Itachi's GirlFriend (Naruto Secrets)
by TheFemaleReviewer
Summary: What would you do if you had to decide between the safety of the world and your own flesh and blood? Would your forsake your family? The ones who have been with you from the start? Itachi's complex character, so I took the liberty of writing about him and his lover. Where they met...and the harsh reality that tore them apart. There are also many cameos from Shisui and Sasuke.
1. Chapter 1

Itachi's GirlFriend

Most of the time, it was nice to just watch the little things... The flutter of a birds wings as it soared past. The tiny taps of a squirrel's feet as it scurries away. The water rushing down the stream. The loud presence of nature. I liked to feel the breeze quicken and pick up the hairs on my head. I reveled in the warm sun beating down on my shoulders, the only visible part of my body.

"Sleeping on the job, Itachi?"

I didn't even have to open my eyes to know who it was. It was like that for someone you spent almost every day with for years.

I stood up on the giant tree branch I was lying on and jumped down next to him.

"Did you find the intruders?" I asked.

He shook his head.

"I don't think there were any intruders to begin with." He muttered.

I lifted my ANBU mask, something I would only do for him, and raised my eyebrows. I sensed worry in him. I opened my mouth, planning to get him to tell me his concerns but he spoke first.

"It's probably nothing." He said, flashing me a smile. "Put your mask back on."

I slid the mask back onto my face quickly and ran along the trees back to the village.

"Anyway, I've been meaning to ask you..."

I jumped above him. He usually described my stride as quick and nimble, because of that he'd nicknamed me bunny rabbit when we were younger.

"Ask me what?" I said.

"When are you planning on getting a girlfriend?"

I almost missed the next branch I jumped onto.

"Isn't this a bit..."

"Off topic? Random? Out of place?" he improvised. "What does it matter? Just answer the question."

I couldn't help but smile at him.

"Only you Shisui..."

He wasn't really a random guy but the things he took interest in about me were...different. At home, all my father cared about were my accomplishments. I knew he was proud of me and he loved to praise me but he never looked deep enough to see what was behind that praise. My mother had been a bit of an escape for me as a child, but when I entered my teen years, she gave me space and concentrated more on my younger brother, as all mothers should do. And as for my younger brother, he was so blinded by my fame and glory, he couldn't see that I was a normal, imperfect human...just like everyone else. They all expected so much from me. So much, I was constantly frightened I wouldn't be able to deliver. But Shisui, he was the only one who saw the real me.

"There is one girl." I replied, after a very long pause.

We were already at home, in the Uchiha District. Our ANBU uniforms were stripped away and hidden. I wore one of my usual outfits, a gray sleeveless shirt and white shorts. Shisui wore a black t-shirt and black pants. We both had the Uchiha crest painted in bright reds on our backs. A constant reminder of who we were and where we came from.

We were in the plaza of the district. A place where everyone had to walk by at least twice a day to get anywhere. We sat on a bench placed right in front of a large, concrete fountain shaped like nothing other than the Uchiha Crest.

"Is she here right now?" he asked.

Of course she was. That was the main reason why I led him to that bench. During mid-day, she was always standing around the plaza chatting about whatever girls chat about with her friends. Most of the teenage Uchiha girls could be found there around mid day.

Shisui correctly took my silence as a "yes".

"Is it her?" he asked.

Really funny... He was playing a genjutsu game. Instead of pointing to a girl, he created a genjutsu where whatever girl he was talking about would appear to have a neon green target mark on them. I responded by casting a genjutsu of my own and marking a red X over the target.

"Her?"

And of course, to make it humorous, he HAD to put a target on the bustiest girl, right in the center of her... I marked her with an overly large red X.

"Am I even getting close?"

"No, but I doubt that's going to stop you." I said.

He winked at me.

_Didn't think so..._

"Hmm... What kind of girl would Itachi like?" he mused. "Probably someone unique... Someone with a lot of class..."

He suddenly took control of my genjutsu and marked X's on a lot of other girls.

"So, I can cross _them_ out. They're too average for you."

I said nothing, trying to lead him astray with my silence.

"And knowing you, she'd probably have to be on the smart side."

He crossed out some more girls.

"And she definitely wouldn't be shy or quiet because that would remind you too much of your mother... No, she's probably one of those out-spoken, independent types."

As much as I hated to admit it, he was right on every single guess. There were three girls left, he slowly crossed out one of them.

"So that leaves... those two."

He smirked at me.

"I can solve this so easy, it's sad." He said.

He stood up.

_Don't embarrass me..._

He walked over to the girls, calmly and coolly, in his usual swagger and asked them a question. Both of them looked at me. One of them nodded vigorously and jumped up and down and the other one put her hands on her hips and shook her head. He told them something to calm them and then came back over to me with his hands in his pockets.

"Stop looking at me like I just ruined your life." He joked.

"For all I know you might have." I replied.

"I just asked them if they'd like to be a part of a group I'm creating called 'Uchiha Itachi's favorite fans' and the first ten girls to sign up gets free dinner with you."

Seeing the look of confusion on my face, he went on.

"The black haired girl was so excited about it, she launched into this entire story about how she's been waiting for an opportunity like this her whole life and blah, blah, blah..."

I glanced at the black haired girl over there. She waved at me eagerly. I smiled and waved back but said "And what was the point of that?" to Shisui.

"Well, the other girl, the one with the light brown hair, was all like 'no way any guy who needs a fan club is more trouble than he's worth.' So, obviously, the one you like is..."

_He's going to get it wrong._

"The one with brown hair." He said.

I wasn't one to express "shock" but my face got about as close as it will ever get to it at that moment.

"...How?"

He laughed.

"You really think I don't know my own best friend?" he asked. "You'd hate a girl that grovels at your feet like that. And I said before that the girl you'd probably like is one of those opinionated types, she fits the description completely."

I let my eyes wander over to her. Some of the other friends she was waiting for showed up, bringing her an ice cream cone. I watched as laughed and talked and licked it.

Her brown hair was cut short, no longer than the nape of her neck, and styled so that she had bangs that swooped over her forehead. I'd never seen a girl wear her hair like that before. I thought it was...a lot more beautiful than all the girls who wear their hair long. Her eyes were a solid, charcoal grey color, large and round. It was the first time I'd ever seen anyone in our clan with eyes that weren't a pitch black shade.

"She's really pretty." He told me.

I nodded.

She wore a tight fitting white shirt with a collar and sleeves that stopped just past her elbows and dark grey shorts that matched her eyes. Her shirt was long in the back, so it had space for that omni-present Uchiha crest, and short in the front so that it exposed her slim stomach. Her leaf headband hung out of her pocket in an informal fashion but I knew that when she was on a mission she wore it proudly on her forehead. Lately, it had become a trend for the teen boys and girls alike, and even some of the kids as young as my little brother, to wear their Konoha headbands in an informal or disrespectful manner...even when they were on missions.

One of these signs of protest was wearing the headband backwards so that the leaf symbol was on the back of the wearer's head or neck, or turning the headband inside out so the symbol didn't show at all, or...in her case, stuffing it into a pocket and allowing the symbol to just barely dangle out.

_To hell with Konoha...right?_

"But, Itachi..." Shisui suddenly said. "You know what your father's going to say about this."

"He already has."

He turned to me.

"What?"

I recalled a night many months before then when I was studying genjutsu strategies in the Uchiha District Hall building. My father was there with me. He wasn't teaching me anymore, more or less just making sure I was where I said I was going to be. Ever since I became an ANBU member, people had been paying extra attention to my actions. For what reason, I had no idea.

She entered the room while I was studying with her father.

"Fugaku-san." Her father said, getting on his knees in front of us. "Please bring her to be buried here."

_Buried?_

I watched as the man put his hands together, like my father was some kind of God and he was praying to him.

"I've told you already, Shou." He said emotionlessly. "She is not one of us. It is out of my hands."

"Please, Fugaku-san, I'm begging you." He continued. "This district is her home. These people here are the people she knows."

"Shou, it was a stretch just to allow her to live here with us." He said. "Now...there is nothing that I can do."

"But please, what about my daughter, Miki?"

That was when I noticed her. Her hair was long then. Almost down to her waist. But that wasn't what attracted me to her, it was her eyes... Those large, grey eyes of hers...they looked so empty and...cold.

"She wants to visit her mother." He said. "If she's buried outside of the district, when will she get a chance to visit her grave?"

Miki chose that moment to raise her eyes from the hollow wood floor we were kneeling on and look at me.

"Shou." My father said sternly. "The best thing for you to do now is to stay out of trouble, for your daughter's sake. This way, at least _she _may be buried properly."

The man clutched his knees.

"Now, if you will excuse me, I'm spending time with my son, Itachi."

Shou-san stood up.

"Let's go, Miki-chan." He said.

But her eyes were locked onto mine, I'd like to say we shared a moment even if it was short lived. I wanted to get inside her, figure out how such a kind face could hold such cold eyes. I stared at her long after her father pulled her away.

"Itachi." My father said to me.

I slowly looked up at him.

"I hope you're not thinking of fraternizing with that mutt." He told me.

_Mutt?_

"She's a half-breed. Of no concern to you..." he said. "I don't want to see you speaking to her...ever."

"Yes, father."

"Good, get back to your studying."

I bowed my head and listened to my father like the respectful child he expected me to be. But inside, I felt differently. More than anything else, I wanted to get to know her. But I knew my place. I was the District Head's son, basically royalty. It'd be a disservice to my entire family if I even made friends with a half-breed. It was obvious, too. With her brown hair and grey eyes... Any Uchiha that saw her could tell she wasn't of pure blood.

"I didn't know the woman who died that day, the woman he was trying to get a proper burial for." I told Shisui. "But by the way Miki looks, I can guess that she might've been from the Senju clan."

Shisui shook his head. An overcast floated over. It was beginning to get dark. People were heading inside, the district was clearing. Miki was nowhere to be seen.

"If you think I'm going to tell you not to see her just because she's not a full blood, you're sadly mistaken." He said.

"I know you won't." I smiled at him. "You like sneaking around."

He laughed.

"Hey, what can I say? I'm a ninja!"

My smile slowly faded. I felt a small droplet of rain hit the back of my neck.

"But sometimes it's hard to believe the divisions between our clan and the rest of the village has gotten so pronounced that a woman who's lived on our side of the line this entire time can't be buried here." I said slowly.

He cocked his head. He didn't like it when I thought about things too deeply. I tensed, expecting him to tell me to lighten up, enjoy my childhood, go get the girl. Instead, he looked up at the darkening sky.

"More and more now I'm beginning to feel like these kinds of things are exactly why this clan will never prosper." He said. "How do they expect to be treated equal if they can't even treat their own equally?"

Shisui was exceptionally intelligent, just like I was. While I masked my abnormally vast intellect with silence, he masked his with humor. Anytime he wasn't cracking a joke, his understanding of the world would seep out like that.

"Itachi, I'm think you should indulge in whatever you're holding back." He said. "Not because I like mischief but because I believe that true tolerance and understanding is the only way to fix what's broken. Starting with inside the district."

That day was the first day I ever considered going against my father.

*Go Get Her*

"Okay, firstly, you're going to have to ask her out on a date." Shisui said the next day.

It was our day off, and we were spending it how we normally did, genjutsu training by the streams near the back of the Uchiha District. Shisui was always more skilled than I. Because of that, I was having phenomenal trouble at getting out of a genjutsu he'd casted over me that forced me to see every girl that walked by naked. I slowly got him with a reversal and turned his own genjutsu on him.

"Ahhh. It was the best day of my life when I invented the Sexy Genjutsu." He told me.

He smiled a bit more widely than usual at the girls that walked by and didn't attempt to get himself out of the genjutsu.

"Let's go to the plaza, it'll be the perfect opportunity." He said.

"Didn't you say that she said she hates guys who need their own fan club, or something?" I asked. "She'll probably blow me off."

"Only one way to find out." He said.

He stood up and interlocked his hands behind his head.

"Come on!"

I slid off of the rock reluctantly and fell into step with him.

"Nii-san?"

I turned to see my younger brother, Sasuke, hopping over the rocks in the center of the stream and coming over to us.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

I smiled at him. He'd probably spent most of the morning looking for me, most likely to beg me to train him.

"Just to the plaza." I said.

"Can I come?" he asked just like I knew he would.

"Sorry, Sasuke, this isn't really for kids."

"You should let him come." Said Shisui.

I turned to him with my eyebrows raised.

"I mean, he's going to need to learn this someday, too." Shisui shrugged.

_But not like this..._

He smirked at me, clearly reading my thoughts.

"Please?" Sasuke begged.

I usually couldn't say no to him when he pleaded with me like that. I wasn't too fond of strictness; I always vowed that if I became a father, I'd be a lot more lax than our father was.

"Okay." I agreed.

He grinned and threw his arms around me and I poked his forehead softly.

"How come you never do that forehead thing with me?" Shisui asked. "I feel like you guys just shared a whole private moment I'll never know about."

I ruffled Sasuke's hair and smiled.

We entered the plaza and instead of sitting right in the center near the fountains, we stood on the outskirts and took up a bench next to a food kart.

"Okay, there she is." Shisui said.

Sasuke poked his little head between us.

"There who is?" he asked.

"Now, all you gotta do is three things." He said, holding his fingers up. "Smile at her, compliment her hair or clothes or something, then ask her out. Simple and easy."

_Smile...compliment...ask?_

"Ask who out?" Sasuke asked.

"If that doesn't work, then put her in a genjutsu." Shisui joked. "She'll never know the difference."

"Put who in a genjutsu?"

Shisui sighed.

"You see that girl over there, Sasuke?"

Sasuke nodded.

"That's the girl your brother's going to marry if he strikes up the courage to ask her out."

_Wait...what? _

"Ohhh." Sasuke said, face lighting up. "Nii-san can do it, asking a girl out is a lot easier than shuriken practice."

Both Shisui and I raised our eyebrows at him.

"You've asked a girl out before?" he asked him.

Sasuke shook his head.

"But it sounds easy..." he mussed. "Let's see!"

He hopped up off the bench and made his way over to a group of girls who were a couple years older than him.

"Uh oh, he's going toward some older girls." Shisui said. "This is going to be sad."

_I knew we shouldn't have brought him...he's way too young..._

"That reminds me." I said to him. "I never said I was going to marry her."

He rolled his eyes.

"You know how people are around here. The moment you start going steady with a girl, her parents and yours already have the marriage date picked out and know the color of her dress."

I couldn't help but laugh. He was absolutely right.

"That's why I never stayed with a girl for too long." Shisui said, winking at me. "Or else they'll trap you."

"That's not why." I replied. "You never stay with one girl for too long because you're already looking at the next girl."

He shrugged.

"Hey, what can I say? I'm a guy..."

"Being a male and extorting yourself like meat on a platter doesn't correlate."

He smirked at me.

"Check your brother out."

I looked back over to where I was sure I'd have to carry a crying six year old boy home and was surprised to see the exact opposite. All three of the ten or eleven year old girls he'd gotten the attention of were taking turns giving him a kisses on the cheek. He waved them goodbye and made his way back over to us.

Shisui sneered at me.

"What did you say about meat on a platter again?"

I shook my head but turned my surprise into a smile as Sasuke approached.

"Told you it was easy." He said.

"What did you say to them?" I asked.

"I told them I liked the roses they were wearing in their hair and asked them if they wanted to go out with me."

"And they said yes?" Shisui asked.

He nodded and shrugged.

"Turns out they were watching me train earlier and they already liked me." He said. "When I asked, they were all screaming and jumping up and down."

He tugged on his ears.

"It was actually pretty loud and annoying." He muttered.

"Welcome to the rest of your life." Shisui said. "Loud and annoying girls everywhere!"

Sasuke frowned.

"Really? Then I don't want to grow up."

I couldn't help but laugh and pull him into my chest for a hug.

"That's right, Sasuke. Stay a kid forever."

He poked his head out from under my arm and smiled.

"Let's see you ask your girl out, Nii-san!" He said to me.

"The smile, compliment, ask thing seemed to work really well for Sasuke." Shisui pointed out.

I sighed.

_Might as well get this over with now..._

I slipped my hands into my pockets and stood up.

"Go get her!" Sasuke cheered.

I smiled at him but inwardly frowned.

_This is going to be the worst day of my life if I mess up in front of my baby brother... Who's idea was this anyway?_

Shisui gave me an encouraging smile.

_Right... It was _his.

A couple dozen strides later I found myself in front of their group. They glanced at me and immediately stopped talking and started grinning. Miki was the only one who looked at me the same way.

"Can I speak to you? Over there?" I asked pointing at the fountain.

Her girlfriends squealed and nudged her. Her face was expressionless but came over just the same. When we got to the fountain, I stared into her eyes for only a second and completely forgot the advice Shisui told me.

_Was it...compliment, ask, smile...? No... That's not right... I think it was wave, smile, ask... No... Maybe smile, wave...compliment?_

"What is it, Itachi?"

_She knows my name? Wait... of course she knows my name. My father had said my name in front of her that night... That night..._

Suddenly, I wasn't thinking about the advice at all.

_Her eyes...are still cold and disconnected, like that night._

The words that came out of my mouth were completely unplanned. And, I'm usually one to plan things out to a perfect precision.

"I want to know more about you." I said. "Your mother, your father, how you're holding up... The way things are."

Her eyes widened.

"I want to understand you." I clarified.

She was silent for a moment, and then she cocked her head.

"You came all the way over here just to ask me about my pointless life?" she asked me.

I looked at her carefully.

"Pointless? It doesn't seem at all pointless to me." I replied.

"And then what?" she asked me. "And then what do you want after I tell you?"

_What do I want? That's a good question... What _do_ I want?_

My hand grasped the answer quickly.

"To...perhaps...make your world a bit brighter." I said.

The otherwise cloudy sky cleared and the sun came out, I chose that exact moment to flash her with one of my rare smiles.

She stared at me for a second longer then smiled back.

"You're an interesting guy...Uchiha Itachi." She said. "Fine then. You've got yourself a date, meet me by the back streams Sunday night. I'll tell you whatever you want to know then."

And as quickly as she came, she walked back over to her group of friends who began tugging on her and whispering to he furiously and I walked over toward my best friend and little brother.

"You did it, didn't you?!" Sasuke asked.

I nodded.

"I knew you could do it!" Sasuke said, jumping off the bench.

"You did what I said, didn't you?" Shisui asked.

"Actually, I decided to be spontaneous."

Shisui's mouth dropped open.

"You? Spontaneous?" he asked, then he laughed. "Wow, that girl must be golden."

I looked up at the cloudy sky and smiled.

"But I _did_ end up using a genjutsu." I confessed.

_The sun was not as bright as she'd seen it..._

Shisui almost fell off the bench laughing.

"Of course you did! What's dating with a little extra help?" he said.

*Moonlit Streams*

Four days passed before it was Sunday. Shisui and I were on a number of seek and eliminate missions, all of which were fake-outs, but on Sunday, he was given a mission without me.

"I don't understand. We're a team." I said. "Danzo must know that."

"He does but he said it's something small, I can do it on my own."

I opened my mouth to protest but he nudged me.

"Besides, tonight's your big date! I wouldn't want you to be late for that." He said.

I smiled softly and opted to say nothing. He hopped up onto the ledge of the fence that surrounded the district, with his back to me, he waved.

"Tell me all about it when I come back." He said. "Maybe you can convince me to settle down with a girl, too."

"Maybe in another lifetime." I replied.

He laughed and ran off.

As soon as he was gone, quick footsteps sounded behind me. The light-weightiness of the steps keyed me in to who it was.

"Sasuke." I said before turning and smiling at him.

If Shisui called me a rabbit because of the way I ran, Sasuke was like a deer, swift and almost soundless...like a real ninja.

"Ready to train?" he asked.

"Sure."

Training with Sasuke was normally a weekly routine. Every week, I'd take him out and train him for as long as he could stand up...which had progressively been getting longer.

We trained all day. He begged me to teach him the substitution jutsu and after a lot of protesting I eventually caved. The biggest reason I caved was because while he struggled trying to learn how to perfect the jutsu, it gave me the time to practice my own techniques and strengthen some of my counter genjutsus...

"Nii-san!"

_What? It's not like him to give up _this_ early..._

It was nearing dusk. I'd left him to practice alone about four hours before then and he was already looking for me. Well, his timing wasn't bad. I was just about to go get him anyway. Miki-chan was probably already waiting by the streams.

"Sasuke-" I began but then I noticed his appearance.

He was breathing heavily. His fingers were twitching, probably from having over-practiced weaving signs. He was covered in dirt.

"Nii-san...I...I got it." He said heavily.

My Sharingan was activated. I watched as he suddenly began straining for chakra when there was none left.

"I'll show you."

I reached out for him.

"Sasuke, wait!"

He did the jutsu, producing a clean copy of himself who smiled at me.

"See? I...I told you..."

His eyes rolled into the back of his head. I darted over to him, catching him right before his body hit the ground. His clone stared at me with wide eyes and then, perhaps because of shock, poofed back into a tree log.

I held him in my arms, frowning as he breathed deeply, soundly asleep.

"Sasuke, you need to be more careful." I scolded him quietly.

But inwardly, I was amazed. He might not be an intellectual genius, like I was, thirsting for knowledge and craving problems to solve but he was definitely a genius of pure willpower. I knew then that there was nothing my little brother wouldn't accomplish if he put his mind to it. In only four hours, he'd mastered a substitution jutsu.

I entered the house cradling him like he was a baby again. Mother saw me and rushed over to me.

"Sasuke!" she exclaimed. "Is he alright?"

"He's fine just burnt out from training." I reassured her.

"Itachi, he's just a baby! You shouldn't overexert him with those advanced jutsus!" She scolded me, pulling him out of my arms.

I scratched my hair sheepishly and apologized as she carried him to bed.

_But you don't know what I know, Mother. He'll probably be stronger than I am one day... And I look forward to that day._

I left the house and hurried to the back streams where I normally hung out with Shisui as fast I could. I wouldn't have been surprised if she'd left though and I wouldn't have blamed her. I was late.

I hopped off the final tree branch and splashed down onto the bank of the stream. Much to my astonishment, there she was, sitting atop a boulder perched right in the center of the stream, looking up at the sky. I slowly made my way over to her.

"I hate stars." She said.

I raised my eyebrows but said nothing.

"Always watching and waiting...but never noticed." She said. "They're such pointless things."

Slowly, she brought her eyes down from the sky and looked at me.

"My younger brother, Sasuke, hurt himself at the end of training." He said. "I had to carry him home. That's why I'm late."

She just looked at me.

"This is the truth." I said, taking her silence for disbelief.

Suddenly, she laughed.

"Of course, it's the truth." She said, then she smirked at me. "Sounds exactly like something Goody Boy Itachi would do."

_Goody Boy Itachi?_

"That's what they all say about you, you know." She said.

I edged closer to her, so close that I rested my hand on the boulder she was sitting on.

"The District Head's first son, the golden boy of the clan, the boy every father wishes was his son." She went on. "No one is as smart or brave or kind-hearted as _you_ are. No one else has accomplished as much. The boys want to _be_ you. The girls fall to their knees in front of you and..."

_And?_

"And somehow, through all that... Through the dozens of people in this clan you could have taken an interest to... You pick me?"

I couldn't understand why she was asking such a question so I said nothing.

"Why?" she persisted. "Why are you interested in me?"

I opted for spontaneity again.

"I was hoping that talking to you, understanding you, would give me the answer to that." I told her.

She pulled her knees to her chest. I swiftly pulled myself up onto the boulder and sat down on it. We faced away from each other. She opened her mouth slowly to speak. The moonlight bathed us in navy blue sparkles... I waited on her voice.

*The New Spy*

"My father, Shou, is a regular Uchiha." She began. "He was born here. Just like you. Just like me. My mother, Nanami, was born outside of the district in the general hospital. She was raised out there. Her family and friends were there..."

She shifted on the rock and turned slightly. I felt something slide into my palm.

"She met my father after they graduated from the academy. He was in her squad."

I looked at what was in my hand, a picture. The moonlight reflecting off of the stream gave it a shimmering hue. A girl with grey eyes and white hair which was cut and styled the exact same way as Miki's smiled at the camera with a boy wearing the Uchiha crest on his hoodie and another girl who wore the Uchiha crest on her skirt.

"Even though there was another Uchiha girl in his platoon, he liked her instead." She told me.

Suddenly, I could see everything taking place right before my eyes...

"My father told me once that he'd do anything for my mother." She said.

She chuckled rather sinisterly.

"That didn't last long."

But I could see it... I didn't need her voice. She had put me under a genjutsu. She was showing it to me. I saw a white haired pre-teen girl who brought an Uchiha kid home to her parents.

"Nanami, stay away from him." Her mother snarled.

"You know how we feel about that." Her older sister hinted.

"I'll murder that boy if I see him in this house again!" Her father threatened.

She ignored them all and ran away to the Uchiha District with Shou. It wasn't a far walk. They could've come to check on their daughter. Any one of the Senju could've come to take her. Initially, the Uchiha didn't like her anyway so they would've gladly returned her, but...

"My mother's family didn't come for her." She said. "Figures. Self righteous bastards."

Instead, she grew up, listening to Uchiha presentations, making Uchiha friends, attending Uchiha district meetings and having the life of a regular Uchiha teen girl. Shou's parents didn't want her there but with much, much negotiation, she was allowed to stay...under one condition.

"She wasn't allowed to...you know...have relations, with any of the Uchiha members."

And that included the boy she'd run away for.

"And three guesses how long THAT lasted." She went on.

Not very long. When they were around twenty years old, Miki was born. They tried to keep her a secret and the secret lasted for a good ten years, but in such a small area, nothing is secret. The clan head at the time, my father's older brother, found out immediately and gave them an ultimatum.

"Either me or her." Miki told me. "One of us had to go..."

"By the looks of Shou-san, I can't say I'd believe you if you told me he killed her for your sake."

Miki's back pressed against mine. She was looking up at the stars again.

"Of course not." She spat sourly. "My father would die himself before he ever did anything half as useful as that."

I was surprised by her tone.

"My mother...is a true ninja. She told me what she never told him."

And suddenly, I saw the conversation...right before my eyes.

"Miki-chan, listen to me." She said.

Miki was then a little girl. Probably no older than seven or eight.

"I'm going to have to leave you today."

Miki stared at her, wide eyed and clutching a small teddy bear. Her hair was incredibly long and braided down her back.

"I know." Miki-chan said. "The elders are making you leave... Dad said so."

Nanami-san's eyes went wide then and she grabbed Miki-chan's arm.

"Whatever your father told you, it's a lie." She said steadily. "I'm leaving of my own free will. I'm leaving to protect you...and your father, no matter how blinded he may be."

"I want to stay with you, Mommy."

"Listen." She repeated. "You must be strong. Do not leave the district. Do not trust anyone that is not an Uchiha. They will betray you, do you understand?"

I felt Miki-chan's childish confusion. She was thinking: "But if the Uchiha elders are making you leave...aren't they the bad guys?"

Her mother pressed a note into her hand.

"Don't read this until you're alone." She whispered.

"That was the last time I saw my mother." Miki said.

"And the note?"

"It told me the unspoken truth. Though, I didn't understand it fully until I was older."

I waited patiently for the revelation, though, I had a feeling I already knew the answer.

_A perfectly good Senju in the Uchiha district? Who would waste something as useful as that?_

"She was a spy." Miki revealed. "The elders made a big show of kicking her out so that everyone would think that she was gone for good. She went home and patched things up with her old friends and family never forgetting her allegiance to the Uchiha clan. She joined the underside of Konoha led by Danzo and served as one of his closest agents, constantly linking information back to us."

"And she was caught." I said.

"Eventually." Miki said. "She killed herself before any of the Hokages could get to her. No one knows this. They all think she was a filthy Senju breaking laws when, in fact, she was the truest Uchiha I know. My birth wasn't accidental either."

I showed no shock or surprise. My brain was fast enough to catch on.

"You're the next in line." I responded.

She nodded slowly.

"Exactly. I'm the new spy."

*We Are Stars*

_All this pain...all this coldness... It was all from shouldering this information, shouldering this burden and knowing that no one can ever understand you. _

"People like my mother and I are born to live double lives." She said. "It's just the way it is."

"It doesn't have to be that way." I spoke out. "There could be a truce. If anyone was willing to listen."

She snickered.

"A truce? Please, with _those_ prestigious assholes? The last time we tried to have a truce with the rest of them we ended up being branded as the 'village policemen'. What are they going to do next? Make us full out slaves?!"

_The way she speaks... It's like..._

"They're mocking us!" She said, then she hopped off the boulder. "And I'm glad I get the chance to finally bring honor to this clan. I'm an Uchiha. And damn proud of it."

I kept my spot on the boulder and she walked around to face me.

"Soon, I'm probably going to be 'kicked' out of the district, too." She said. "But I'll handle it and do my job and clean up my tracks afterward, if I have to. That's the fate of a ninja. Living in the shadows. That's what we do. I know that."

_Cleaning up your tracks doesn't have to equate to suicide..._

"What about your father?" I asked.

She looked away from me.

"He doesn't matter. He's a fool anyway... He's so blinded by his longing for mother that he's gone as far as to blame the Uchiha clan for her death. He's completely lost it..."

She looked hard at me.

"But don't tell anybody that... As much as I hate to admit it, it'd bother me if he were killed for treason."

"I won't tell anyone." I said.

It was quiet for a while. She suddenly smiled at me. Something about the smile was off...like it was fake.

"But this is great. By your silence, I can tell that you've finally realized how useless it is to spend time with me." She said, then she rubbed my thigh. "I'm no one, Itachi. It's best you drop me now before you get attached."

_If you were worried about me getting attached then you shouldn't have come tonight at all..._

She turned around and began walking away.

"I realize now why I was attracted to you." I spoke up.

She froze.

"It's because...we're the same."

"Oh, please." She said, putting a hand on her hip and turning to face me. "Remember what I said before? You're the district golden boy and I'm the cursed half-breed. How could we _ever_ be the same?"

She turned back around again and began walking. I looked up at the sky.

"I know why you hate stars..." I began quietly. "Like you said, they're a constant presence that no one ever notices. Even when it's daytime, they're still there, but no one sees them. They remind you of...yourself."

She froze again, her shoulders stiffened.

"All your friends and comrades and even your father see you as a normal ninja girl. Or else, they see you as a stain on the Uchiha clan, something that is and never should have been." I went on. "I'm the same... My family loves me. And my friends and comrades love me. And my district loves me. But they don't _see_ me. The only one that sees me for who I really am is Shisui."

She said nothing, keeping her back toward me.

"Like you said, they all see me as the golden boy. A symbol. No one sees that I'm a person. I can make mistakes. I can feel pain. I can cry. Everyone expects so much of me." I paused and my eyes locked on the symbol on her back. "Sometimes, I wonder why me? Why me out of everyone?"

"Wouldn't it just be nice to have a normal, listless life... To be allowed to relax." she whispered.

Slowly, she turned and looked at me. The moonlight bounced off the stream and bathed her body in blue.

"We're like stars... People only look at us when they want to see something to marvel at." She whispered. "And then the rest of the time they ignore us... But we're not pointless."

She slowly made her way back over to me.

"You really do understand." She said.

_I finally understand now. All this time, my attraction to her was rooted in the desire to find someone like myself. My desire to find someone... Someone who could understand the pain of carrying the desires of an entire population on your shoulders._

But the more I thought about her past, the more something felt unsettling in me. I wanted to know more about her family. Was what Nanami told Miki as a child the truth? I doubted it.

"It's late." I said. "I'll walk you home."

*The Passing Days*

Days passed, life continued on and for the first time in my entire life, I didn't wake up with my entire day planned out. Things were open to change. The passing days were unpredictable.

"It's called a water fight." Shisui said. "The water users usually play it to strengthen their water control."

I blinked, saying nothing, he guessed what was on my mind immediately.

"We're doing it because it's fun, 'Tachi!" Shisui said, grinning at me.

Sasuke jumped up and down, nodding along.

"I want to try! I want to try!" he yelled.

And someone else, a third person, jumped up behind me and covered my eyes with their hands. This wasn't an unpredictable thing. In fact, this person, this presence, became the sole predictable thing in my life. Continually showing up in flamboyant ways and trying but failing to surprise me.

"Aghh! You're so boring, Itachi!" she exclaimed, still covering my eyes. "Just get scared once."

"I could sense that you were coming from the change in the wind direction." I told her.

Shisui laughed. "He's right. Aren't girls supposed to be graceful?"

She sighed and let me go.

"Whatever."

It wasn't an everyday thing, of course. We were all very aware of what her consistent presence around me would mean to others. It was too risky. Miki even said it herself on more than one occasion.

"_Don't sacrifice your 'Goody Boy' status for a loose cannon like me."_

But what she didn't realize is that, I was willing to sacrifice everything for her. I wasn't definitely sure why at first but the longer I spent time with her began to be clear as day.

Shisui dunked his hand into the bucket, cocked his arm back and threw a water ball at Sasuke who just barely dropped to his hands and the tips of his feet to avoid it.

"Whoa!" Shisui said, eyes popping. "That kid is super quick."

He dunked his hand again and threw another one, this time, Sasuke jumped up from the ground and grabbed a tree branch above him, snickering at Shisui from almost thirty feet above the ground.

"No way..." he said, shielding his eyes from the sun to look up.

My hand dove into my weapons pouch and grasped a kunai knife. I swept my arm to the left to shatter a water ball coming to catch me directly in the face.

"Can I _ever_ catch you off guard?!" Miki-chan exclaimed.

I found myself sneering.

"Not with those reflexes." I told her.

She raised her eyebrows and put her hands on her hips haughtily.

"Oh? You want to play, Goody Boy?" she asked.

Her hands dunked into the basket and she formed a water ball, much slowly than Shisui but it still held its form even after it left her finger tips and sailed toward me. I dodged it with ease. At the same time, Sasuke jumped to the ground and cart-wheeled to the right to avoid Shisui's throws.

"This. Kid. Is. Un... BELIEVEABLE!" Shisui exclaimed, pausing between words to throw a water ball.

Sasuke dodged them all, laughing as he back-flipped away from him.

"Okay! I give up! It's completely impossible to catch you off guard." Miki-chan said crossing her arms.

I walked over to her.

"Would hitting me with one make you feel better?" I asked.

She looked at me, smile growing on her lips.

"You're so hopeless." She said, reaching up to stroke my cheek.

"Hey, love-birds!" Shisui called. "This game isn't over! Help me catch your freak-of-nature brother!"

I dipped my hand into the cool water, quickly formed a ball using the change in chakra nature, and threw it over my shoulder and slightly east-ward.

_Thwock!_

I was still facing Miki-chan and her eyes widened, jaw dropping.

"Awww! Nii-san, you got me!" I heard Sasuke call out.

"This is ridiculous. I can't surprise you once but you shock the skin off _me _every day."

"That's not true." I told her. "You're the most unpredictable person I know."

"And does that excite you?" she asked, grabbing my hand.

_Yes._

"Not particularly." I told her.

I turned around. Sasuke shook his head roughly, trying to shake the water off him. I smiled at him.

"Are you okay?" I called.

He nodded and grinned. Shisui crossed his arms.

"I know how you did that, and it's cheating."

I cocked my head, quickly turning my Sharingan off.

"You didn't set any rules." I pointed out, smirking at him.

Suddenly, Miki-chan tugged on my arm roughly, bringing me down onto the ground. My back hit the grass giving her a chance to promptly sit on me. She held a water ball over my face.

"Now... Didn't you say something about letting me hit you with one?" she asked, smiling at me playfully.

The sun radiating off of her brown hair made it look reddish, she grinned down at me.

"Well? Ita-kun?" she asked.

"Go ahead. But that won't surprise me."

"Come on, Sasuke, let me show you something cool." I heard Shisui say.

"But what about-"

"They're busy, just come on."

Miki-chan raised her arm and threw the water ball down, I closed my eyes expecting to feel the cool rush of water on my face but nothing happened. I could feel the grass brushing against my cheek in the warm breeze and something, perhaps a grasshopper, landing on my arm. And then, very abruptly, there was a cool, damp sensation on my lips. My eyes fluttered open as she slowly pulled her lips away from mine.

"Surprised now?"

_...Yes._

"Nii-san?!" a voice called.

We almost bumped heads as we hurriedly got to our feet like we'd done something wrong.

"What are you guys doing?" Sasuke asked.

Shisui stood behind him mouthing "Sorry" over and over again. I smiled at him.

"Trying to surprise each other." I told Sasuke. "She...finally won."

And even though, the rest of that day was normal with all of us practicing Taijutsu and doing speed tests all day, we both avoided each other's eyes. Miki-chan went home earlier than usual and I made a point to be busy helping Sasuke while she left. But that initial awkwardness only lasted a day at most...

"You guys are doing fire ball jutsu today?" she asked. "Why did I even bother to show up?"

Shisui grinned.

"It's not anyone's fault that you suck at things Uchiha are supposed to naturally be good at."

_That was a sore spot..._

She frowned and opened her mouth, probably about to summon the most foul thing she could think to say about him. I grabbed her arm.

"I can help you learn." I told her.

She smiled at me warmly.

"Aw, Ita-kun!"

"_Ita-kun_." Shisui mocked. "Where'd you pick that stupid nickname up from anyway?"

She stuck her tongue out at him.

"In simple terms, it's just gathering chakra in the form of air pressure in your lungs and releasing it as hard as you can." I told her. "Let me see your biggest one."

She laughed.

"My biggest one is nothing but smoke." She quickly did the hand signs, leaned back and blew out a two foot thick ball of smoke.

Shisui snickered. She sighed dramatically.

"It's almost completely hopeless." She said, shrugging.

I looked her over, realizing I couldn't quite call the problem either. I'd had my Sharingan activated. I saw her building the chakra up but somehow, between her chest and mouth, it got lost somewhere. And even if it was just smoke, the smoke should've at least been many feet wider than it was.

"Contrary to popular belief, fire-ball jutsu's aren't really a forceful thing." Shisui said, walking up with his hands in his pockets.

We both turned and looked at him.

"You're building up the perfect volume of chakra but your pressure is way off. Volume and pressure have an indirect relationship. If you compress your chakra too much, it'll raise your pressure that much more making it come out in that forced smoke that you have." He explained to her.

_That's just like Shisui... Extremely intelligent, especially with concrete things like that. No matter how much he liked to joke and play around, his intelligence succeeds even mine._

"You need to relax more." He told her. "Decrease your air pressure."

She raised her eyebrows at him.

"I guess you do live up to your genius status." She said.

"Well, I'll get going. I have a mission from Danzo anyway." He said.

Miki-chan's eyes locked on him.

"Danzo?"

"Yeah." He said shrugging. "Lately, he's been asking me to do a lot of stuff."

"And not me?" I asked.

He shrugged again.

"Usually, it's nothing. Just more of those blank missions."

He sounded carefree but I knew his voice...and I knew that it was forced.

"Maybe I should-"

"Just work on keeping her relaxed." He said, winking at me.

He turned and ran off.

_Shi... What are you playing at?_

The sun was setting, casting a warm pink and orange glow over the forested area we stood in.

"What's the best way for you to relax?" I asked her.

She stood on the tip of her toes and peered through the trees around us.

"Let's go back to the streams for a swim."

I sighed, as she slipped her hand into mine, tugging me alone.

"I have a strong feeling this will have nothing to do with training." I said but the feeling of her small, tender hand in mine kept me willing.

*The Annual Film*

We weaved in and out of the trees and walked up the hill toward the District Plaza. Soon, we could see the stone monument Uchiha Crest on the horizon. I raised my eyebrows.

_There are a lot of people here... A lot more than usual._

There was a thick crowd surrounding the monument. Miki-chan squinted ahead and frowned.

"Looks like the kids from the last film showing." She observed.

The Annual film... A show held in the Uchiha District Main Hall about how the Senju clan and the rest of Konoha, who were just Senju sympathizers, forced the Uchiha members into a corner of the village, branded them with the title as "Village Policemen" and spread rumors about how they had no control over their powers and would kill any and everybody. In my opinion, it wasn't as if anyone was forcing them to stay with their backs against the wall. They could've tried to integrate again. But after that, the entire clan became dark and bitter. Giving birth to generations of kids who saluted my father, the District Head, and completely ignored their own Hokage. The film was supposed to be only held once a year but recently, they had began showing it every week. It bothered me to think of the kind of complications a division like that could cause.

We approached the gathering and I quickly realized that they were all children or adolescents. Adults never went to go see the film, they'd gotten their fill of it since it was mandatory for all Uchiha members to watch it once they turned twelve. By the time someone was the age I was, they'd seen it enough times to recite it by memory. Most kids my age only went to mess around in the dark with their dates.

"I know that kid." Miki-chan suddenly said.

We were at the edge of the crowd looking up just like everyone else. A bald, burly boy and his two side-kicks were standing all the way on the top of the Uchiha Crest monument in the middle of the plaza.

"That's Akai and his idiot fanboys." She muttered. "What's he doing?"

"Attention!" Akai exclaimed. "Aren't you guys tired of seeing this movie every year and having to go home with your heads down and say nothing about it!?"

Everyone had their arms crossed, many people looked skeptical.

"Well, I've had it! Not this time! They stained the name of our clan! They took away our ancestry! They took away our hero! And now they're trying to take away our freedom! I won't be a part of it!"

_Our hero? Right... That movie has been getting worse and worse every year._

My mind flashed back to the last time I'd seen it with Shisui. Unlike everyone else, we were actually there to gain knowledge on the past instead of just to mess around like the others. I remembered the film very vividly.

"_Long ago... Our hero, Uchiha Madara stopped the Age of Warring between the Senju and Uchiha clan." The film began, showing a flickering black and white photo of his face. "Along with his long time rival and first Hokage Senju Hashirama. These two would forge what is known today as the Village Hidden in the Leaves."_

_The film began with a triumphant song but it then turned ominous and dark._

"_But Madara could not have the dream that he wanted, the dream that we all wanted... He sensed that there was treachery afoot! Distrust on the horizon! The Senju's were being caught in their peace-lies!" the announcer exclaimed. "Madara Uchiha was the only one who had heard the truth but when he came to warn the rest of his beloved clan, he was stopped by Hashirama and Tobirama and henceforth banished!"_

_Everyone in the audience booed collectively. I could almost feel the pressure to do so as well. Shisui remained silent just like I did. We both knew what we believed._

"_Years passed with our Hero kept apart from us. Some of us forgot the deeds that he had done for us. Others were forced to be silent. We were trapped in the treaty we had signed. Forced to fraternize with these devils. Madara Uchiha continued to try to come back, to tell us of their evil plots, to set us free! The final time he tried, Hashirama Senju intercepted him and murdered him at the valley of the end!"_

_The audience was in uproar. People threw things at the screen, stomped their feet, hollered. _

"_And since that day, we Uchiha have been known as the Cursed Clan. This is how our story began..." _

I frowned; the crowd was beginning to get excited, nodding in agreement with Akai. I noticed most of the teenagers we were standing around wore their headbands inside out or backwards. Everyone there was most likely a subtle or active Anti-Konoha supporter. Back when my parents were growing up, people would be shunned, taunted or even put in jail for attending such an obvious promotion of segregation. But recently...

"This village is ours too!" someone yelled.

"Let's take it back!"

"Yeah! Yeah!"

People began pumping their fists. I turned to Miki.

"Let's go." I said. "Mob mentality will take over soon."

"Wait..." she said, leaning forward to see him over the crowd.

"Let's paint the town black tonight!" Akai yelled. "Let's do it for Madara! Let's do it for the countless other Uchiha driven to death or insane over this wretched war! Both most importantly, let's do it for our freedom!"

"YEAH!" the crowd shouted.

Miki was nodding vigorously. I noticed that she was still wearing her Konoha headband hanging out of the pocket of her gray shorts.

"Miki, this isn't-"

"Isn't that Shisui-san?" she asked, interrupting me.

I looked up.

"Everyone calm down!" I heard him shout.

He jumped up on the crest next to Akai.

"Don't let your anger fuel a needless riot!" he shouted. "Use your head!"

"It's Senju-lovers like _you_ who've ruined this clan!" he retorted.

The crowd roared in agreement.

_It's already too late Shi... No one is thinking anymore, they're just...mindless._

I observed the crowd turning quickly into an angry mob. They all wore their Konoha headbands in that disrespectful manner; backwards, inside-out or like Miki-chan, half sticking out of a pocket. But now they were completely stripping them from their heads.

"To HELL with Konoha!" someone shouted.

"Konoha can burn straight to hell!" yelled a girl near us.

And suddenly a battle cry, a chant arose from that.

"Burn it down! Burn it down! Burn it down!" they shouted.

Akai hopped off the top of the building leading the riot. Everyone rushed past us. I planted my feet and held my hand out to Miki-chan who took it unquestioningly.

"Stay close to me." I ordered.

"But Itachi..."

Her words were lost in the roar of the crowd. Everyone pulled against us, making our grip weaker. For a second, her fingers slipped out of mine. I turned, reaching again and grabbing at nothing.

"Miki?"

I felt her hands slide around my waist.

"I'm here." She said.

"Hold on."

I jumped up high over the crowd with her hanging on to my shoulders. My feet hit the dirt at the butt of the crowd where a few stragglers rushed after the procession. Someone else's feet hit the ground next to us. I looked down into his black curly hair as he straightened up.

"They're just running to their deaths." Shisui stated. "They'll be the ones burned instead, lined up in front of an Anbu kunai firing squad for the highest crime in Konoha."

_...Treason._

They weren't far yet. Their voices were still loud.

"We can stop them." I said, looking to Shisui and then to Miki-chan who was looking after the rioters. "All three of us, we can-"

Shisui looked to me and smiled.

"Don't worry about it Itachi, just go ahead home with Miki-chan, okay?" he said. "I'll take care of everything."

_You're just trying to calm me down again..._

He turned around, ready to dart after the rioting crowd.

"Shi!" I called.

He turned and looked at me.

"Didn't you say you were going on a mission?" I asked.

"I already went." He said. "It was just child's play. Nothing to worry about. But Danzo did mention he wanted to speak with me privately later."

_Danzo again?_

Miki-chan looked up.

"Don't you think stopping a riot and going on another mission is a bit too much work?" she asked.

I nodded.

"How about I go on your mission and you take care of the mob?" I said. "That way-"

"No, 'Tachi." He responded quickly, cutting me off. "He asked for me. I'm perfectly capable."

We stared at each other.

_There's something..._

His expression was blank but slowly that same smile came back.

_Something he's not telling me..._

Miki-chan grabbed my arm and tugged me.

"Ita-kun..."

"I'll meet you later tonight, by the streams." He reassured me. "Just take her home... _Ita-kun."_

His eyes sparkled playfully in the sunset as he mocked the nickname. And with that, he turned and ran off. The sounds of the yelling adolescents were gone, washed away in the chilly breeze of the night. Miki-chan shivered. I held my hand out to her.

"Let's go."

She shook her head roughly.

"I'm going to go too." She said, looking after him. "Shisui's being an idiot. He knows he can't stop that riot and go on a mission alone, he just doesn't want you to be persecuted."

She turned back to me.

"You're the Head's son." She said. "You have a lot more on the line than we do."

I grabbed her arm.

"I can't let you go alone."

She laughed.

"I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself." She said, but I wouldn't let her go.

_Shi told me to take her home... But even more than that, I know she only wants to go to join the riot. I can't allow her to do that._

"No." I said, my Sharingan activated and my voice held a deep tone I usually didn't use.

She sighed, slowly bringing her hand up to stroke my cheek.

"I never thought I'd see you being forceful." She said.

I slipped my hand into hers carefully pulling her in the other direction, toward my house, toward the streams, toward safety. She leaned on me.

"You know you're the only one I'd submit to like this, right?" she asked.

I looked up, my father and a couple other clansmen were walking up the hill, quickly approaching the entrance to the village.

"Otou-san." I said.

He nodded at me, eyes traveling to Miki-chan.

"Hello, Fukgaku-san." She said in a light-hearted voice.

He smiled to her.

"Good Afternoon." He said but the moment he looked at me his smile vanished.

_Right... I'm disobeying orders..._

"There's a riot outside of the village." Miki suddenly spoke up. "After the film, everyone got upset. They said they were going to burn down Konoha."

"What?!" one of the men said.

"It's far too soon." Said the one closest to my father.

My father shook his head.

"These kids are going to ruin everything with their impulsiveness..." he muttered.

He looked at us again, eyes layering over us quickly and then he snapped his fingers.

"Alert the others, go get them." He said.

His advisors ran off as he approached us. I tensed. My father wasn't a fool but he wasn't afraid at all of speaking his mind. He was someone who never told lies or put up a front. He slowly looked to Miki.

"Thank you for telling me this and for not participating." He said.

She smiled.

"Well, I wanted to go. In my opinion, any chance to give this clan the honor and respect it deserves should be pounced upon. But, Ita-kun told me to wait and... I trust his judgment."

He cocked his head, eyes flitting over to me. We stared at each other. I already knew what he was thinking.

_Any girl that listens to her man and takes his decision as her own is..._

"She's smart." My father said to me.

"She has to be." I replied.

_...very useful._

"Well, take your girlfriend home, Itachi." He told me, relaxing and looking toward the district entrance. "I'll try to calm everything down."

And with that, he turned and walked away.

"That was surprising." She said as we walked back. "I thought your father would be like everyone else. Too scared to let their daughter date a mutt."

"He _was_ like that." I said truthfully. "But he respects you"

"Really? How did I do that?"

We weaved around a couple of trees and I pulled a large branch up for her to duck underneath.

"You were eager to help your comrades but you were also attentive to the orders of a superior." I told her. "That shows not only the skills of a great ninja but also the skills of a great _woman_."

We entered the area, the same streams we spoke at on our first "date".

"Superior?" she asked me as she planted herself on the boulder in the middle of the water. "Since when do I answer to _you_?"

I slid my hands into my pockets and stood in front of her.

"I know more about the plans we have for the district." I said. "One who knows more than you is superior to you. Those plans are the main reason why my father is opting to stop the riot. It will be bad to have Konoha officials looking at us before we're ready..."

"I'd heard rumors. So, it's true then? Fugaku-san is planning a coup d'état?!" she asked.

I nodded. She clapped her hands together, grinning.

"So we're really doing it?" she asked. "Saving everyone?"

_If this is what you call saving... It feels more like slaughter._

We were quiet for a while. I leaned against the boulder next to her. Miki tossed a branch into the water and both of our eyes settled on it, watching it sink.

"But at the same time, it's scary, you know? It's almost like it's going to start a chain of hatred. When we win, we'll do the same thing that they did to us. And then..." she trailed off.

I watched her face backwashed in the blue of the night.

_She really _is_ smart._

She looked up at me, realizing I was staring and started laughing.

"But they deserve it so it doesn't matter." She said quickly.

But she's scared.

"We're destined to fight a lifelong war with them. They'll exterminate us if they get the chance. They'll erase us off the face of this planet. That's what they want. But we can't let them..."

"Miki..."

She turned to me.

"We have to do this Itachi. If we don't fight, we can't live."

Her eyes were steady, serious. She's already reassured herself. Set herself in her own plane of thinking.

_You're wrong... War isn't necessary for life. War isn't necessary at all. You're just scared to show everyone what you're thinking, even yourself because you don't want to be isolated from us. But it's not wrong. I'm thinking the same thing. _

"You're supposed to be relaxing, remember?" I said.

She smiled.

"Right, we were supposed to be going for a swim before all this happened!" she said.

She pulled her shoes off.

"Come on, lets take a dip."

I glanced up at a bat swooping down overhead. The sun was setting. I could hear the faint yelling sounds from the riot. Serious things were happening and we were just...

"Hurry up!" she said, running downstream.

The stream let out into a small lake. Shisui and I would often stand on the water and throw shuriken back and forth to each other and catch them through the holes with our forefingers while utilizing enough chakra control to not fall beneath the surface. It took incredible concentration.

"The water's warm." She said diving into it.

The water she splashed up littered onto my shirt. She came back to the surface and grabbed my ankle.

"Hey, you're the one who wanted me to relax, right?" she asked, grinning up at me.

I couldn't help but smile.

"You seem pretty relaxed already." I told her. "Why don't you try it?"

She put her foot up on the surface of the water and stood next to me. She quickly did the hand signs, expanded her chest and blew as hard as she could. It was still nothing but smoke. I watched the water dripping from the brown locks over her eyes. Slowly, my gaze drifted south. She had taken her shirt off and hung it on a tree leaving nothing but a black wrap she wore around her chest. Suddenly, she poked my forehead.

"Find something interesting?" she asked.

I quickly averted my eyes, cheeks flushing.

"Keep swimming." I said. "Maybe you just need a bit more time."

"By myself?" she asked. "No way! I'm not going to let you watch my half naked body all soaking wet with nothing in return."

"It's nothing like that." I replied, still keeping my eyes off her.

She grabbed the bottom of my shirt and lifted it up.

"What are you-"

"You're swimming with me!" she said, eyes flashing playfully.

I sighed, finally allowing her to pull my shirt over my head and toss it onto the shore. She turned and dove back into the water.

"I bet you can't catch me."

I kicked my shoes off and dove in after her, kicking my feet hard to get to her. She was quick through the water, just as I was about to grab her, she darted away like a fish. I saw her grinning through the water, sticking her tongue out and crossing her eyes.

_She's so..._

I reached and succeeded in grabbing her.

_Light-hearted._

She pulled away from me and surfaced. I broke through the water also and we both summoned chakra to our feet and stood on the surface again.

"Do you think you can do it now?" I asked.

She gave me a wry smile.

"Maybe with a back massage." She prompted.

I smiled softly.

"I'm beginning to think you have some ulterior motives."

She made a face at me again and giggled. I put my hands on her shoulders.

"I'll do it, if that's what you want." I told her.

I carefully nudged the tips of my fingers into the soft skin of her shoulders. She leaned back against me. It was quiet for a while, nothing moved except the water droplets falling off our hair and clothes onto the surface of the lake below.

"Ita-kun?" she said.

"Hmmm?"

"Do you think of me as your girlfriend?"

I found myself laughing and then I tried to stifle it, thinking I would hurt her feelings. She leaned back and looked up at me.

"That was unpredictable." She said, then she grinned. "Is that a no?"

"No, of course not. It was just unpredictable of you to ask that, that's why I laughed." I told her. "I never thought you cared about labels like that."

"Well, every girl wants to know for sure." She said. "And you _do_ have a lot of fan-girls."

I smiled.

_That's silly. You're the only one I could ever even imagine something intimate with._

"You're the only fan-girl I like." I told her.

She elbowed me.

"I'm not a fan-girl!"

I laughed again.

"Forgive me. I didn't realize."

She sighed.

"I'd be really mad at you if your laugh wasn't so cute." She said. "This is the first time I've heard you laugh..."

I paused.

"Would you like me to laugh more often?"

Suddenly, she laughed.

"No. It'd be weird and out of place." She said. "Shisui-san laughs enough for the both of you."

_That's true, that's why we work so well as a unit._

We were quiet again as I continued massaging her. I quickly became incredibly aware of my chest pressing against her back.

"Would you _want _to be my girlfriend?" I asked quietly.

She didn't move so I couldn't see her facial expression.

"Of course not." She said. "You're way too easy."

I could hear the smile in her voice. She turned her head and looked up at me, lifting her hand simultaneously to the back of my neck. I gazed down at her.

"Easy?" I asked.

"Yeah, I have you wrapped around my finger." She said bending her pinky finger on me.

"How?" I asked.

"Like this..."

She pulled my neck down bringing my face down over her right shoulder and inches from her lips. The moment I felt her soft, full lips press against mine, I shuddered. My hands slipped from her shoulders and wrapped around her waist, holding her against me. I could hear the crickets chirping around us. Her tongue slipped through her lips and mine. Every thought or memory I'd ever had was suddenly unattainable as my mind zeroed in on the taste of her tongue. A cool rush of water shocked my skin, running into my shoes. Her soft finger tips brushed against my cheeks and ears, exciting me even more.

"Mmmm. Ita-kun?" she said pulling away.

I blinked, not even realizing I had closed my eyes.

"You're sinking!" she exclaimed.

I looked down at my feet which were more than ankle deep in the lake, reminding me of that rush of water I'd felt earlier.

_Losing chakra control because of a kiss? _

I felt my warmth pool in my cheeks again. I pulled my legs up out of the water reestablished the chakra under my feet. I expected her to mock me but she laughed.

"You're _so_ cute." She whispered.

She picked her head up off my chest. Without even asking, I knew she wanted to try. I placed my hands over hers and we did the hand signs together. Her chest expanded as she sucked in air and she exhaled.

A flame ball almost as large as my biggest one expelled from her lips. My eyes widened as the wind blew our hair back and extinguished atop the water. She breathed heavily, clearly, almost out of chakra. I hugged her to my chest.

"That was amazing." I told her.

She laughed.

"It's all because you got me so relaxed." she joked.

She turned around and pressed her face into my chest.

_She's warm._

"Okay, I'll admit it... I do want to be your girlfriend." She whispered. "When I'm around you, I don't feel like a star anymore."

I lowered my hand to her waistline and grasped the piece of cloth hanging from her pocket. She looked at me questioningly as I raised it to her forehead and tied it firmly around her head.

"You belong to Konoha." I told her. "So wear this proudly."

I could see my own face reflecting from the metal. She smiled and poked my headband.

"No... I belong to _you_." She told me.


	2. AN: (Starts Getting Graphic)

*Shisui's Death*

That night didn't end there, it was a long one. I came back to the stream after I walked Miki-chan home expecting to see Shi there kicking his feet in the water or jumping along the tree branches but it was the farthest thing from it. I found him there with one eye missing, the other eye, entrusting it to me.

He told me the same thing Miki-chan had said to him when she told me about her mother.

"_Self-sacrafice... a nameless shinobi who protects peace from within its shadow... That is the true mark of a ninja."_

Ninja are _all_ stars. All seen but not noticed, cared about but not cared for.

"_...Itachi, you're my best friend...the only one I can count on... Protect the village AND the Uchiha name."_

"It was Danzo, wasn't it?" I asked him.

"Itachi, just listen."

"But it was him, right?" I interrupted.

I was sitting on the boulder in the middle of the stream. He staggered toward me, raising a bloody hand to my head and covering my eyes. Suddenly, it was like my eyes were seeing without opening.

"I'll show you." I heard him say.

And then I was seeing. I saw him waving his arms of the mass of adolescents rushing out to be cornered and quarantined by Konoha leaf jounin and ANBU. No one was listening to him. No one was paying attention to anything. Someone grabbed his arm.

"We're wrapping everything up here." The person said. "So, come on."

He wore a white ANBU mask shaped like a tiger with blue stripes. Shisui squinted his eyes at him suspiciously.

"What do you mean?"

The riot roared around him as one by one, kids were being taken down.

"This is treason!" a Leaf Jounin hollered as they grabbed a girl by her neck and slammed her down.

"You evil bastards!" yelled another Leaf ninja, who then sprung a line of paper bombs into the crowd.

Everyone was panicking, running around, scrambling for safety, crying for their friends.

"I mean, Danzo's waiting for you. We have this all wrapped up. Go to him."

The ANBU member put his hand on Shisui's shoulder immediately transporting him to the underground of the village. He stood in the center of a darkened room. The same room he normally met Danzo in but no one was there. He stood, waiting, thinking about the previous missions he'd been sent on alone. They were all search and retrieval missions. But the missions were so simple, it only took him seconds to complete.

He walked around, tossing a kunai from one hand to the other. Above him, he could hear the sounds of the village quieting down. He figured the Leaf ninja had gotten everyone into line. Abruptly, the ground under his feet began to tremor slightly. He backed away as the ground began to raise under his feet. The rising ground seemed to follow him, he hopped around, dodging each rising surface until all the surfaces rose over his head and surrounded him. He was locked in a concrete make-shift cage.

"Rope him down!" a voice ordered.

Ropes with kunai knives were thrown over the top of the rectangular walls and forced down. Shisui activated his Sharingan and looked up, quickly looking for ways to escape but before he could try any of them, the walls rushed back down to the ground and the ropes slammed down onto him pinning him on his back. The ground rose again forming something like a table that he was tied down to. A slow clap sounded as people came from the shadows.

"Good... Good..." a voice said.

Shisui could recognize it anywhere.

"Danzo."

"I'm glad you decided to join us again today, Shisui." He said light heartedly.

"What is this treachery?!" he asked.

"It's a little experiment I'm running." He said. "One that I need a very special eye for and out of all the Uchihas in the village, I decided you'd be perfect for this."

"What are you talking about!?"

"Patience, Shisui-kun." Danzo said.

He walked around him with his hands behind his back in a Hokage-like manner.

"The reason I asked you to come on all those missions alone was because I wanted to test your Genjutsu prowess."

Shisui lifted his head two inches off the stone table and glared at him.

"What do you mean? Those missions were-"but then he stopped.

_No..._ He thought. _There actual was a purpose behind them. Now that I think about it, all those missions had the same agenda._

"I wanted to see how strongly you could cast a Genjutsu." Danzo said. "It might've seemed like a simple mission to find a missing boy or construct a broken dam but all those missions forced you to use your eyes... And you used them better than anyone."

"So, what do you want with me?" he asked.

"I told you already." Danzo said. "Just lie there and be...patient."

Another ANBU member came from the shadows with a pair of medical scissors and a very thin knife.

"Gouge it." Danzo ordered.

The ANBU ninja forced Shisui's shoulder down and hovered over his right eye with the scissors. Shisui immediately jerked his head to the left but it didn't move far, the ropes were cutting into him even tighter.

"Wa-wa-wait! Wait!" Shisui exclaimed. "This is madness! Let me go!"

The ANBU member, true to his underground nature was calm, precise and unfazed. He continued easing the scissors toward Shisui's right eye.

"Stop it! Are you_ insane_?" Shisui asked him.

"No." Danzo said, circling him. "But I'm willing to do anything to protect my village and the management it has now is...faulty at best."

_Oh my god, no..._ He thought.

_No, no, no... Please..._ He inwardly begged.

The ANBU member raised his arm and slammed the scissors down through the upper part of Shisui's right eye socket and straight into the mushy brain tissue beyond.

"AGHHHH!" he exclaimed. "What the hell?!"

Blood spurted from his face. The scissors stayed jutting out of his face as the ANBU ninja let him go and pulled a pair of sickly green gloves on.

"You bastard!" he shouted, reeling from the pain. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Shisui, your Genjutsu prowess is the strongest in your clan." Danzo repeated. "It's simply amazing."

I shook my head and pushed his hand away from my eyes.

"Stop." I whispered. "I don't want to see that."

"If you want to understand, you'll watch." Shisui said, replacing his hand on my eyes.

I quickly revisited the scene. Shisui jerked on the stone table wheezing and coughing just from the shock of having a pair of scissors sticking out of his face. His blood dripped onto the floor. The ANBU member swiftly produced a small stone stool from the ground and lay a clean sheet on it, then he picked the knife up and grabbed Shisui's chin.

"Get your filthy hands off me!" he shouted.

"Itachi is the second strongest." He said, as he continued pacing.

Shisui froze, slowly turning to Danzo.

"His eyes have definite promise. I could see that on those missions you two shared together. His strength comes out tenfold whenever you're in danger." Danzo mused. "It's rather astonishing...how much he'd like to protect you."

The color drained from Shisui's face. The words hung heavy in the air. The ANBU ninja, most likely trained not to listen, was already leaning down with his knife tracing an imaginary line to cut his eye cleanly away.

"You wouldn't dare." Shisui said.

"Well, it's not a matter of wants and nots." Danzo told him, eyes shining at him darkly. "If you resist, I won't have a choice."

That was all he had to say. Shisui said nothing else, with the scissors still sticking straight through his eye socket and through his frontal lobe, his right eye was already blinded. He lay still and watched as the ANBU member forced the knife into his eye and cut all the connecting nerves, veins and arteries. Blood spilled down his face, entered his nose and mouth and he didn't move once, his left eye didn't even blink but the pain was more than anything he'd ever experienced in his life. It was a mark of how determined he was that he lay upon that table and silently lost his sight.

But he wasn't a fool.

"Good... Good..." Danzo said. "That wasn't so hard. Now... The second one."

The moment that ANBU ninja bent over him, he used the spare second to cast an inherent genjutsu with the order: "Help Me Escape". The ANBU ninja brought the bloody knife down over his chest and seamlessly cut the rope, freeing him from the table. He jumped up and slammed his feet down on the ceiling above. Danzo looked up at him in mild surprise.

"This is what's special about you." He told him. "Your Genjutsu's are like mind control."

Below him, the ANBU member clapped his hands together, creating a stone whole opening through which Shisui escaped. But before he ran out, he heard one last sentence:

"You can give a person _any _command you want...and yet...you're a man who would be troubled to control even a fly." Danzo seethed.

Shisui removed his hand from my face. I stared at him, watching the longing in his single eye, and nodded at him, silently agreeing to his will. I summoned one of my most trustworthy birds. Shi surgically removed his other eye, cutting into the brain tissue the same way Danzo had. He did it right there, right in front of me, unflinchingly and we both carefully inserted it into the eye of the crow. Afterwards, I sat there looking at our reflections in the still, cold, unforgiving waters of the lake.

_How fitting is it for a person who has the power to essentially control minds to be as light-hearted and kind as you?_

"Until we meet again." He finally said, grasping my hand momentarily.

I watched him run off and after many hours of sitting in the same spot, on the same boulder, I left too. Made my way back to my house. Called for sleep that never came.

I became a spy. I had known ever since I was Sasuke's age that my father and his followers were planning a coup d'état. It had always been a great concern of mine. I never believed that a Civil War would solve anything unless the problem was over-reproduction.

I wouldn't forget him. I wouldn't let him go. It was my fault anyway. I knew I shouldn't have trusted Danzo. I knew that something was wrong. Every mission I'd been on with him that month was a fake. Shisui most likely asked me not to come on the last mission because he suspected that... That it would be...

"Nii-san?"

All of this, all of this uncertainty, all of this pain, all of this pressure... But I have to handle it. Shisui entrusted me with his will. I must carry it out if it's the last thing I do.

"Nii-san?"

"Yes, Sasuke?"

"I thought we were going training today."

"Sasuke, another time."

"But recently, you've started saying that so often."

"Sasuke, please... I'm busy."

And then...the day those bastards came to me and tried to pin Shisui's death on me. This clan, this stupid, selfish, unforgiving clan. THAT is what killed Shisui, THAT is why he's gone. How dare they insult me with such an accusation?

"I'm sorry but...it sounded like you were insinuating that, perhaps, I am the reason for Shisui's disappearance."

How dare they come to me barking such nonsense? Did they really think I would murder my best friend?

"Clan, clan, clan, that's all anyone says. I'm dismayed at this foolish clan!"

I was changing...drastically. When Shisui told me that he would cover his tracks, erase his existence...commit suicide. I was depressed then... But the longer I held onto it, and the longer I spent time thinking that...if only I had gone with him that night, if only I hadn't put a stupid date before the life of my best friend...he'd still be here.

My ocular prowess strengthened the longer I stewed in my own self-pity and soon, I acquired the Mangekeyo Sharingan.

And then...like dominos, everything around me started to fall. Danzo gave me an ultimatum:

"Either you or everyone... One of us must go..."

Just like Miki-chan's mother, I faced the biggest moment of my life...except, instead of being a Senju pleading for justice for the Uchiha, I was an Uchiha begging for justice for the rest of the village.

_Either you or everyone..._

Either I killed my clan, or there would be a full blown civil war. Initially, I was against it. Never would I ever go against my family in such a way. Even if they were plotting treason, they still had a right to live. But Danzo...came to me with a deal.

"You could still save the life of your brother."

And suddenly...there was a reason.

*Trust*

I gave it some thought but I realized I had no better option. If there was a full out war, I couldn't guarantee the life of my little brother at all but if I did...the unthinkable... I could still spare him. And, he was really someone that needed to be spared. Every day, he grew stronger. Every day, his potential rose. I'd already lost one person who I considered to be a brother. I refused to lose another.

"Itachi?"

I was sitting at my desk mapping out the quickest routes to kill the most of my clansmen in the shortest amount of time when my mother knocked on my door.

"Your father and I are on our way to the meeting, are you sure you don't want to come?" she asked.

Normally, women didn't go to the district meetings but since that night... The night that everyone tried to start a riot and burn Konoha to the ground after the district film... Many Uchiha teens were caught and slain on spot. By the time my father had gotten there, almost thirty percent of them were already dead with the leaf ninja claiming self defense against them. My father took the remaining ones home, pretending to put them in jail for treason but quickly calling a district meeting. A meeting that finally put into place the plan I knew he'd been thinking of all along.

"We're going to stage a coup." He declared.

I was there. I heard what he had to say. And I was also incredibly aware of the empty seat next to me.

"We'll never let them touch our children again!" someone yelled.

"Yeah, eye for an eye!" another agreed.

_But isn't this just..._

Ever since that night, my father had been hosting regular clan meetings every week to discuss how they should go about bringing Konoha down. Everyone was required to go.

"I'm sorry, Mother. I'm not feeling too well today." I replied.

She walked up behind me and ran a tender hand through my long, black hair.

"I know it hurts to lose someone you care about." She told me. "But hiding from everyone won't make anything better."

I said nothing, continuing to draw out my plans in cryptic codes that no one could understand except me.

"Well, I just put Sasuke-kun to sleep so if you decide to come later, make sure to bring him along with you."

_And that's precisely the reason I'll never go._

Father had been requesting that Sasuke join the secret meetings with the rest of adults in the clan since everyone was required to go but so far, I had been able to put a stop to it. It wouldn't last for long though. My plan would have to begin...very soon...

I waited until she left the room before I continued working.

_This might be easier than I thought... I'll begin at the South border, eliminating everyone in that section and then moving down, toward the North. I'll leave my house for last. Or, perhaps, I should eliminate my parents first. Which would be easiest?_

I stared at the paper for a long time. So long, my eyes glazed over and the lines on the paper blurred.

_...Could this _ever _be easy?_

"Doing homework?"

I bristled.

_No._

"Yes." I said, looking up at the mirror above my desk.

She walked into the room slowly, flicking a lock of her short brown hair out of her eyes.

"I was on my way to the meeting when I ran into your Mom." She said, taking a seat on my bed.

_Maybe starting South was a bad idea. Perhaps East would be better... There aren't many people on the East side of the district, it'd be more stealthy._

"She told me you weren't coming to the meeting...again."

_Yes, so East it is._

"This is the third one in a row that you've missed, Itachi."

_And I'll leave my own house for last._

"Are you even listening to me?!"

I raised my head rigidly.

_No._

"Yes." I responded.

She rose from the bed slowly and stood behind me.

"You've been acting so weird lately, Itachi." She said, placing her hands on my shoulders and leaning against me. "I'm worried about you."

I kept my eyes glued to the page. She slid her hands onto my chest and rested her chin on the top of my head.

"I'm sorry I'm worrying you." I said.

She let go of me. The action was so sudden, I looked up at her. She reached over me and grabbed a picture frame off a shelf to the right of my desk.

"This is cute." She said.

She grasped a picture frame in her hand. The picture was one of me when I was selected as an ANBU Captain when I was thirteen years old. It was before I'd gotten my growth spurt so Shisui looked more like my older brother than my best friend. He had me in a headlock and was ruffling my hair while grinning at the camera. A wide, genuine smile was stretched across my face. I remembered not being able to stop smiling that day, glad I would finally be allowed to go on missions alone with Shisui.

It was a picture I had seen at least twice every day since I'd gotten it. Normally, it put a smile on my face but...

"You're going to have to let him go."

I found that my eyes couldn't focus on the photo. I turned back toward my map. Miki slammed her hand down on my desk.

"What you're doing is _not_ healthy."

_I know._

"What is it that you think I'm doing?" I asked.

"You're avoiding the problem."

_You're right._

"I don't have a problem." I replied, calmly.

"Look at me." she said, steadily.

I turned my face toward her. Those dark gray eyes I had previously identified as hard and cold were surprisingly open and tender...

"Ita-kun... We're the same, remember? You can't lie to me."

I wanted to look away from her again, close my eyes, push it out, but her gaze kept me mesmerized.

"You're pretending to be alright because that's what everyone expects, that's what everyone wants." She said. "But I care about what _you_ want, and more than that... I care about what you _need_."

She looked into my eyes, her hand drifted down the side of my face, caressing my skin. I blinked, quickly being lulled by the feeling of her touch but then closed myself off from it.

"You don't understand." I heard myself say.

"Then explain it to me."

I shook my head. "I can't."

"I can help you!" she protested.

Suddenly, the door creaked open.

"What's going on?"

_We were too loud... Did he hear?_

Miki-chan looked away from me, she was completely composed again. He was looking between us both strangely. Even as a kid, he had keen insight, constantly trying to gather information and take mental note of everything.

"You said you'd tuck me in tonight." Sasuke reminded me.

I smiled and eased him out of the room, away from a fuming Miki-chan. When we were in the hallway, I lifted him up onto my back and carried him.

He started laughing.

"You don't have to carry me like I'm a baby!" he protested.

"But I thought you liked this." I said.

He just laughed. I took him to his room and dropped him into his sheets.

"Okay, what story do you want tonight?"

"Tell me the one about the sage of the six paths."

"But you always hear that one."

He frowned. "'Cause it's good."

"Okay... Once upon a time, there was one ninja named the Sage of the Six Paths. A man who single handedly created all the jutsu of the world."

Sasuke watched me as I pulled his light blue bed sheets up to his chin, tucking it around him.

"He had two sons, the first son was a greedy individual who only desired power, the second son was a kind-hearted fellow who only wanted love. When it was time for the sage to die, he thought hard about who to give his seat to. He wondered if he should give it to his first son, who had very strong ocular jutsu quite like the Sharingan, or if he should give it to the second son who had immense chakra and vitality. And...who did he trust in the end?"

Sasuke smiled. He loved the part where he got to answer.

"The second son!" he exclaimed.

"Why?"

"Because the second son had a pure heart, he didn't desire power and he wasn't greedy. He believed in...the people."

I ruffled Sasuke's hair. Every night Sasuke answered that question a bit differently, but that day, he hit it perfectly. Suddenly, Sasuke yawned. He snuggled deep into his sheet and blinked slowly.

"Nii-san, is the sage real?" he asked.

_Yes._

"Of course not, Sasuke." I said, smiling widely at him. "It's just a bedtime story."

With his eyes closed, Sasuke's lips began moving again.

"That's boring... I always thought that...if he were real, I'd be the super great grandson of..."

I cocked my head.

"Of who?" I asked.

But he was sleeping soundly. I pulled his sheets further up on his body and, for a second, I just watched him...sleeping so peacefully. What kind of life would he be living in a few days? In a few days, everyone would be dead and I would be gone. Was I really doing him a favor...by leaving him alive?

I heard a small sound behind me. I turned and saw Miki standing in the door frame with a blank face.

"That story." She said. "It's true...isn't it?"

I got up from the seat next to Sasuke's bed and quietly left his room. When his door was closed, I nodded.

"Well, the story I tell Sasuke is a very childlike version of the real story. In kids' stories, you always have to make it obvious who is the bad guy and who is the good guy."

"Like the first son, with the eyes and power lust...he was supposed to be the bad one, right?" she asked.

"Of course. That's why Sasuke always answers right."

"But what's the real story?"

"The real story is that the two brothers had separate ideals...the first brother believed you could keep peace in the world using power, such as the Sharingan which he acquired, and the other believed you could keep peace using love, and had the power of vitality, a long life."

"So...in other words...these brothers are actually the ancestors of-"

"Exactly, the Uchiha and Senju clans."

She cocked her head thoughtfully.

"Well, I'm a cross between the two, right?" she asked. "Wouldn't that mean that I'm a reincarnation or something?"

"Perhaps if you'd been born a boy." I replied. "As you know, it's very rare for a female Uchiha to obtain the Sharingan."

She pouted comically.

"We're only fourteen year olds." She reminded me. "It could show up later!"

We were silent as we made our way back to my bedroom. I glanced out of the windows on the way noticing the groups of people still making their way toward the front of the district.

_The meeting most likely isn't starting for a long time._

"You're so cute with your brother...you really, really care for him, don't you?"

"More than anyone." I said thoughtlessly.

"More than me?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

I smiled.

"What kind of question is that? He's my baby brother but you... You're..."

"The one that excites you?" she asked teasingly.

_Yes._

"Not necessarily." I told her.

We re-entered the bedroom and she grabbed my arm.

"Okay, I understand. I won't force you to explain everything to me." she said. "But I'm not going to let you hold everything in anymore."

My eyebrows rose.

_Again, I'm unsure of what she's planning..._

She grasped my hand and sat down on my bed, pulling me toward her.

"What are you-"

"I'm helping you relax."

She tugged me down harder, raising her lips to mine the moment they were close. I stiffened, pushing my palms into the bed on either side of her head to keep from falling against her.

"Just let it go, Itachi." She whispered.

She ran her hand through my hair and I felt her lips press against my neck. I shook my head.

"It's because I haven't kissed you in a long time, isn't it?" I asked her, pushing her back. "You're feeling deprived."

She pulled back and frowned at me.

"You really think I'm thinking of myself right now?"

I blinked at her, wordlessly.

"Is it impossible for you to think of anyone doing something selfless except for you?" she asked. "You're always thinking 'what does he want' or 'how can I help her' but you never, ever think 'what do _I_ want'?"

She stroked my cheek tenderly and moved both of her hands into my hair.

"Ita-kun, how do you expect to be happy if you're never honest with yourself?" she asked. "You're a human. You have wants and needs. But you never do what you want."

Slowly, I shook my head.

"You're wrong." I said. "Our time together has been the only time that I've ever truly done what I wanted."

I lay down on my back next to her.

"When I asked you out that day, I did it more for me than anyone." I confessed. "I just wanted _you_."

She leaned over me and smiled.

"And you still want me, don't you?"

"Of course I do."

"Then you should give yourself what you want more often." She said. "Like right now..."

I licked my lips, the memory of her lips pressing to mine still fresh in my memory. My eyes involuntarily flicked downward.

"And I'm willing to give you what I know you want. So, what's wrong with taking it?"

_Because there are more important things... Because there's no time to..._

It was almost as if she was reading my mind.

"Even 'Goodie Boys' like yourself deserve a little play time." She said, winking.

_I still have to do a lot of planning..._

She pulled me downward again.

_The future of the clan, no, the village rests in my hands..._

Her lips grazed my cheeks.

_But... This... _

I edged toward her.

"Just let it all go." She whispered.

I allowed her to pull me downwards and we kissed again. I caught a scent on her I'd never noticed before, something sweet like honey and earthy like roses. Honey Roses?

All of my emotions were finally free to swirl around. I was being honest with myself. I finally admitted that the few weeks after I'd been with Miki-chan at the lake were very hard on me. I missed the closeness. The warmth of her body and her scent. I loved having someone to touch and hold and be honest with. It was just like being with Shisui except incredibly more intimate.

_And Shisui..._

Being honest about what I wanted from Miki lead me to thoughts about him. My eyes flicked over to the picture on the floor that Miki had been holding.

"What are you thinking about so deeply?"

I looked over at Shisui walking up behind me. My eyes settled on the horizon. It was the first mission we'd had together after I'd been chosen as an ANBU captain. We were out of the village, on one of the tall hills that surrounded the land of fire. The cool chill of early morning whipped around us as we watched the sunrise. He plopped down into the field of dandelions next to me and propped his arms up on his knees.

"Well? What are you thinking about?" He repeated.

"I'm aware of the plans my father has for the clan." I said.

Shisui nodded. "I see."

"He'll most likely enact these plans within the next year or two. I'm just thinking of the consequences. What the possibility of a coup will do to the village as a whole."

"Didn't you turn thirteen, like, yesterday?" he asked me jokingly.

"Shi..." I responded quietly. "My entire life, I've lived with clear rules and guidelines. Straight figures. I've always known what was expected of me and did just that. But you... You never expected anything of me..."

I pulled my ANBU mask up, allowing the wind to cool my face and turned to him.

"But right now, I want to know what you expect of me." I told him. "I want to know seriously what you want."

He looked at me seriously, the most serious I've ever seen him and then he sighed.

"'Tachi, why is it always 'what does he or she want' with you?" he asked.

He shook his head and smiled.

"Okay, so, your father's planning a coup. We've both know he'd go that path for a long time. That's his decision. But Itachi, you have to find your own path, your own way, if it works out, then fine. But if it doesn't, at least it's yours and you decided it for yourself."

He looked out toward the rising sun.

"What I want or think doesn't matter." He said. "But, if you pressed me to make a decision..."

My eyes blurred as I looked down at Miki. A wet droplet fell onto her face and made its way down the side of her cheek. I wanted to shut the memory out. Keep it locked away like I'd been keeping everything but the tenderness of her touch was pushing all my locked memories to the forefront.

Shisui turned back toward me and grinned, his curly dark hair reflecting the brightening sunlight.

"I'd choose to entrust the future to you." He told me. "I'm certain that you'd make a much better choice than I ever would."

"Ita-kun..."

Another droplet hit her cheek. I couldn't stop it at that point. I felt them sliding down my cheek, collecting at my chin. She lifted her hand and wiped at them.

"Talk to me."

It was slow, but I could feel a bit of pressure building up in me. Forming in my chest and rising through my throat. The pressure of words. I realized I really did want to speak.

"I was thinking about him." I admitted. "And I can't help but wish that it were me...instead of him."

"It's natural to feel guilty about it. But you know Shisui would never let that happen."

_Which is why he purposely made sure I didn't join him on those last few missions? Why didn't I insist on going? I should've... I could've..._

"But it's better this way."

I raised my eyebrows at her.

_How could this possibly be better?_

"Losing someone isn't a complete loss." She told me. "You take on their will, afterwards. You begin fighting for them."

She nodded as she spoke.

"We'll avenge him. You and me together. He won't die in vain. His sacrifice won't be wasted."

I nodded with her.

_Right... I'll avenge him. I'll bring justice to his name if it's the last thing I do._

She continued drying my tears with her fingertips.

"You know, I've never seen a boy cry before." She whispered, that soft smile playing at her lips. "And I can't help but feel like it's the cutest thing I've ever seen..."

She pushed me down on the bed, pulling herself up to straddle me.

"I want to keep going." She said, lowering onto me.

We kissed again. Since my mind was clear and set, I didn't hesitate. I ran my hands through her short, thick hair. She lifted my shirt, fingers grazing my skin underneath. I shuddered, opening my mouth slightly in response allowing her to swiftly slip her tongue inside.

An intense feeling I'd never felt before attacked the lower part of my body that she was sitting over. Her lips left mine momentarily to pull my shirt up over my head.

"How long a day do you train to get abs like these?" She asked, eyes going over my chest and arms.

I returned her light hearted smile as she settled in the middle of my chest, kissing me passionately again. I felt a rising sensation in my pants. That feeling was stronger than ever prompting me to do things I'd never even thought of before. I closed my eyes. My mind zeroed in on her lips making their way from my neck to my chest. I put my hands on her waist, lifting her shirt slowly, questioningly.

"Go ahead."

Without a spare second, I pulled her white shirt over her head and let it fall to the floor. My eyes locked on her chest, again only covered by a black strip of cloth. She ran her hands through my hair, loosening my ponytail and stretching my hair out. She grinned, satisfied.

"You look a lot cuter with your hair out." She said, then she cocked her head. "It's wavy."

We paused for a second, just gazing into each other's eyes. She caressed my cheek.

"How far are we going with this?" I asked her.

"It's all about you tonight, remember?"

Her fingers were playing at the waistband of my pants. I softly grabbed her hand.

"I just want to be close to you." I told her. "We don't have to do anything more than that."

"And that is why you're so much better than all the other guys."

She put her head on my chest. Her ear pressed against my beating heart. We were silent for a while. Our breathing was in tune, our lungs expanded and retracted together in rhythm. Her right hand slid over to my left one and our finger interlocked.

"I want to stay like this with you forever." She whispered.

I stared up at the dark ceiling. The only light in my room was a candle on the opposite side of the room, getting dimmer and dimmer with each passing second. I rubbed her back comfortingly and pressed my cheek into her hair.

"Me too." I told her.

_But we can't..._

I decided to try my best to fix the mess Shisui entrusted me. I decided to do what I thought was right, which was avoiding war, which was protecting my little brother...

_But we won't..._

Which was sacrificing my own flesh and blood.

_We'll never be together, Miki._

I wrapped my arms around her and held her close to me. Time passed and her breathing began to slow like she'd fallen asleep. I played with her hair at my fingertips noticing one last thing before the candle fizzed out. She had a caved in spot in each cheek. Something called dimples. Something that was not native to the Uchiha clan, but was seen in the Senju.

_But perhaps I can still save you._

I had always wanted to know if Shisui would be alright with me protecting the village for the sake of our clan. But finally, I was certain. It didn't matter what he thought. It was my decision and I was choosing...everyone else...over my own.

*Confrontation*

The next morning, we both woke up to my Mother knocking on my door asking me if I was hungry for breakfast.

"I'm not hungry." I told her.

I turned to Miki who had already gotten out of my bed.

"See you soon, okay?" She said, before tugging her shirt on and diving out of my window.

I re-took the seat at my desk and decided to keep structuring my plan. I needed to plan for everything. Every little thing that could possibly happen needed to be planned for.

I spent my day normally, going on secret missions for the 3rd Hokage and leaking information back to him about my plans for the clan.

"How soon?" Sarutobi Sensei asked me.

"I'll be ready in two days time." I told him.

From there, I went to where I knew Miki would be. In the plaza talking to her friends at sunset, like normal. There weren't many teens there. Only the few that were left after what had happened with the riot. I stood next to the fountain in plain view remembering how only a couple months before, Shisui had stood there next to me persuading me to reach out to her. Somehow, I felt like he was there, egging me on again. She glanced over at me, maybe it was a sixth sense, many a whim, and she immediately waved to me and ran over.

"What are you doing out here, Mr. Introvert?" she asked.

"Looking for you."

That wasn't predictable, so she raised an eyebrow.

"For...?"

"Let's go."

We walked back to my house slowly. I'd set up for this perfectly, in the most perfect way that I could. There was something about sunsets that seemed to be the backdrop of our relationship. And also, the hues of lavender and orange that splashed over her hair during that time of day held more beauty than imaginable. She kept looking up at me questioningly. Grasping my hand at points, leaning on me at others. Little subtle things to get me to explain to her.

_Not yet..._

Father and Mother weren't home. I'd also planned for that, picking another day when they'd be going to a town meeting. It was begin held early, so they'd already left. I pulled the door open and led her inside. Finally, she frowned, fed up with my silence.

"What's up with you inviting me here?" she asked. "You know I have a mission tonight."

"I have the information you need for that mission." I told her.

She cocked her head as we entered the hallway.

"You know what my mission is?"

I nodded. She squinted at me, suspicion edging on her gaze.

"I'm listening." She said.

_It's time..._

"My father believes that there's a spy working against the Uchiha clan feeding information to the 3rd Hokage." I told her. "And your mission, as a spy double crossing Konoha is to find your enemy and destroy him."

"Correct." She said. "But I'd expect nothing less from the son of the District Head. So, who is it?"

She leaned against the wall and crossed her arms thoughtfully.

"I was going to start with Akai. It seems too fitting that the plan _he_ thought up caused so many deaths."

_There's nothing behind that, he's just mentally impaired..._

"But what's hilarious is that, your father's kind of nudging me in your direction." She said, grinning at me. "Like he thinks his _own son_ is the spy..."

_So that's why he suddenly took a liking to her. It wasn't because he approved of her. It was because he realized she was the closest one to me and also an avid Uchiha supporter. Very well played Father..._

"So who is it?" she asked. "Fill me in!"

My heart rate sped up.

_I have to keep going... She'll trust me... She'll believe in me..._

But my silence must have been enough, or perhaps it was the look on my face. The way I slid my hands into my pockets and looked at her. Was my expression desperate? Or was it depressed?

"Oh my god..." she whispered.

"You have to listen to me." I said carefully.

She backed away from me, shaking her head.

"No, no, no..." she said, voice rising. "You're lying! You're kidding! This can't be happening!"

"Lower your voice." I said. "Sasuke's in the house."

I paused by his bedroom door and peeked into his room. He had his back to me, playing with toy shuriken and rubber kunai knives. Every now and then, he'd make sounds effects like explosions. I couldn't help but smile. I led her away from his room and over to mine.

As soon as we entered the room, she pushed me into the wall and used actual physical strength to hold me there, not that I couldn't push her away any time I wanted. Her kunai knife was pressed against my throat. She glared at me with steady eyes.

"Answer me honestly." She said. "Are. You. A. Spy?"

"Yes."

"For which side?"

"I see no sides. I see only outcomes. One outcome has more bloodshed than you can possibly imagine, and the other has a controllable amount. I'm simply choosing the outcome with the less-"

"Dammit, Itachi!" she exclaimed.

She wasn't listening to me at all. She punched the wall next to me.

"Dammit!" she yelled again. "I knew you were a softy but I didn't know you were an idiot, too!"

I didn't reply.

"You really let them feed you that bullshit?!" she asked avidly. "They're playing you! They're just using you to do their dirty work!"

I looked her calmly in the eyes. She slammed the Kunai knife on the ground.

"You're playing right into their hands!" she said pacing back and forth. "They're just doing this so the stupid Senju can save face! They're too weak to actually come out and say they hate us like they do so they're trying to use you as a go between!"

"The current Hokage is not part of the Senju clan, he's-"

"What does it matter? He was trained by a Senju! He carries their will! My mother's grandfather was Tobirama Senju! Everyone in her line thought the same way! They treat Uchiha's like dirt. You're letting them get in your head."

_No. This has to be done. It's the only way..._

"Itachi, are you even listening to me?!" she exclaimed. "God! When people said you might be going traitor, I stuck up for you! I said you were as much traitor as I am! And now you go and do this?!"

_I'm sorry, Miki-chan. This is the only way._

"And you don't even have the balls to say something to me?" she said.

She shoved me. My back hit the wall loudly.

"Say something!"

_There's nothing to say... I won't change my mind._

She brought her hand back and slapped me hard, across the face. I didn't even blink. I was already that numb. Already that closed off.

"Get angry!"

She slapped me again.

"You fucking dickhead bastard!"

She brought her hand back around but this time I caught it. She tried to hit me with her other hand but I caught that one, too.

We stared at each other for a long time. My emotionless eyes versus her glare. Slowly, her eyes softened.

"We were supposed to be together." She whispered. "Don't you remember that?"

I remember nights when I went out to the stream and she'd be there, waiting for me. I needed her presence to numb the pain of Shisui's death. I needed her smile, her laugh, her voice. She was always there when I was. And the night before, holding her to me as I fell asleep, our chests rising and falling together.

Her voice cracked. She was losing her composure, something that I'd never seen her do.

"You told me you wanted to be with me... I can't believe this." she said, pushing her face into my chest. "What the hell are you thinking, Ita-kun?"

I could feel my shirt getting damp. I hugged her to my chest, emotionless charade finally breaking. I could feel my arms shaking as I clutched her. I buried my face in her hair, soaking in that scent of warm honey and red roses.

_Stop it, please... I have to save face...for Sasuke..._

"I thought you loved this clan."

"I do." I whispered.

_But this is the only way..._

"I thought you wanted a future here."

"I did."

_The only way...to ensure Sasuke's safety. _

"I thought...you loved me."

I held her tighter.

"I love you more than anything."

_I mean that._

"No." she said. "Not if you're betraying us like this."

Her eyes were red-rimmed and the tears still showed on her face but she glared at me again, anger flaring.

"You don't understand." I said. "If I don't do what I can to end this coup d'état, there will be a civil war, many people could die."

"That's the cost of our freedom!" she replied indignantly.

"Sasuke could die." I reminded her.

"Then he'll be a true ninja!" she retorted.

I gripped her wrist. My Sharingan activated involuntary like it normally did when I became very serious.

"I will never allow my little brother to die for the sake of a pointless war."

She was getting the anger she had previously wanted out of me. It threw her off momentarily but she bounced back quickly.

"Our freedom is pointless?" she asked quietly.

"If children must die to reach it, then yes." I told her.

"Then you're a fool!" She said, pulling her arm out of my grasp.

"What's going on?" a tentative voice called.

Miki-chan turned to the front door, her hand grasping the knob.

"Stay out of the district tomorrow night." I told her. "I can't guarantee your safety unless you do."

She paused.

"Please." I said. "The reason I told you all of this is because I _need _you. If you're alive, you could protect and watch over Sasuke when I must leave."

She turned to me, face blank and emotionless. I watched her. I could feel Sasuke peering around the corner at us. Miki-chan glanced at him and then at my wide, pleading eyes.

_Say that you'll stay with him... You're the only one I could ever trust with something like this..._

Instead of speaking, she jumped out onto the grass and dove into the calm cool night.

Many things passed through my head that night. I wondered if she had changed her mind and went directly to my father to inform him of my treason. But both of my parents came home from the meeting like normal and neither of them said anything unusual... Just like I'd planned. I knew from the beginning that Miki would never give me up to my father prematurely because of that single line she said to me at the lake that night.

"_I belong to _you_."_

*The Uchiha Massacre*

Madara stood next to me on the top of the hill.

"It has to be concise." He told me, through the mask on his face.

For a second, I could see his single Sharingan zooming in on me. Something felt off about him...was he really Madara? But that was a mystery for another day.

"Kill one and then on to the next one, very immediate."

My eyes went over the district, all the people, all the parents, all the children, my family.

"Don't be soft. This is the mission."

"Why are you so interested in taking part in this mission anyway?" I questioned him.

He turned away from me.

"It will become a very important part of history, you know." He responded. "I have a habit of documenting history."

My parents' faces flashed in front of my eyes.

"And you'll have to lie to the boy." Madara reminded me.

"I know."

Sasuke's young innocent face stared up at me, smiling. I had given him a sufficient distraction, ensuring that he wouldn't be home for at least another hour. That gave us plenty of time.

"If you want to back out, now is the time."

"Of course, I'm not backing out."

"Well, then." He said. "It begins...now."

"Jin-kun!" a young girl of around four years old exclaimed.

She was playing hide and seek in the house with her two year old little brother.

"Got you!" she yelled, rounding a corner.

But no one was there. She cocked her head, confused that her brother wasn't hiding in his usual spot. Her feet slapped against the wooden floor as she came into the den again, having circled the house twice.

"Okay, Jin! I give up!" she declared.

But there was no voice in response. She ran to the bedroom she shared with him, standing on her tip-toes to turn the knob. The door swung open and a dark, thick liquid spilled from the room, oozing between her toes. Her hands began to shake as her eyes locked on the body in front of her.

"Oka-san!" she exclaimed.

Her mother was slashed to the floor, lying in a pool of her own blood. The girl, taken over by self-preservation, spun around and ran as fast as she could, falling a couple of times out of the clumsiness of hurrying.

"Jin!" she shouted, eyes blinded by tears. "Jin-kun!"

She choked on her words, finally getting to her mother's room where she most likely planned to hide under the bed but she was halted by a boy standing in her way.

"Itachi-nissan?!" she exclaimed.

I looked down at her expressionlessly. She hugged my knees, whimpering with the fear ricocheting through her small body.

"Oka-san's...hurt...and...Jin-kun's gone..." she yelled tearfully.

"It's okay." I told her, crouching to her level. "Everything will be fine soon."

She nodded and hugged me. I took my sword from the holster on my back and stroked her long black hair as she gripped my arm.

"I promise." I told her as I swiftly drove the sword up through her stomach.

Her eyes widened. Her scream pierced the silent house. I looked into her eyes watching as the light dimmed from them. Her blood poured into my hands. Slowly, her voice faded away and her body became limp and helpless.

"Ayumi-chan?" a little voice perked up.

I looked up as I let the girl's body drop to the floor in front of me. A little boy with spiky black hair and large, wide dark eyes stepped into the room.

"I'm sorry. I had to go potty." He said.

Slowly, his eyes settled on her. His bottom lip trembled, the cry that broke from between his lips echoed throughout the night. He stood there, crying and shaking his head at me.

"But... Why?" he asked.

I stood up straight and took a step toward him. He involuntarily backed away, fear setting in.

"Oka-san!" he yelled.

His back hit another pair of legs. He turned around to see my clone standing in the doorway.

"You'll be fine." My clone told him, squatting down in front of him.

I watched as my clone grabbed the boy's head and twisted it, seamlessly snapping his small neck.

"I promise."

A droplet of blood fell from a tree branch and splattered on the ground. The constant screams going blaringly loud for over two hours had calmed down. I sat in the middle of the road, waiting for what I knew was to come. A pair of feet hit the ground next to me.

"My side is done." He said.

"What about _her_?" I asked.

"I didn't touch her. Just like you asked."

_You better not have..._

"She'll be here soon." He said, hoping up on a tree branch. "The ban the 3rd Hokage casted over the village will wear off in an hour. Be finished before then."

I nodded. The 3rd Hokage, knowing of our murderous plan, put a ban on all Konoha residents to stay away from the South side of the village, where the district was, for the entire three hours we'd need to wipe away the clan. Only forty more minutes were left. And I still needed to confront Sasuke who would be on his way home soon.

I could feel her presence coming in and with it came that line:

"_I thought girl's were supposed to be graceful?"_

"Itachi." The voice said.

I looked up at her. Silence passed between us. She continued walking toward me until we were only feet apart.

"I can't believe you actually went through with this." She said through gritted teeth.

"You stayed out of the district."

"You know just as well as I do that you had those assholes hold me hostage!"

"See reason, Miki-chan." I said, reaching toward her. "This is all for the sake of the village and humanity as a whole. We avoided a war. No one had to die."

"Right. No one had to die except your own damn family." She reminded me. "And somehow _that's_ justice."

She glared at me.

"I don't even know who you are anymore!" she spat. "You let these guys twist and warp your whole mentality around to the point that you're actually agreeing with slaughtering your own kind!"

"It's for Sasuke's sake." I told her.

"You fucking asshole!" she shouted.

Her voice pierced through the night. Bats flapped their wings flying out from the trees overhead, I could sense Madara sitting on the branch above, watching us.

"You were preaching to me about how wrong a war is that kills kids when you just spent all night killing infants!" she shouted at me. "Look at yourself! You're covered in blood!"

I looked down at my hands, dyed red, dripping with the thick liquid. The entire district was splattered in it. Half of me still couldn't readily accept that it was all because of me.

"They're all dead, aren't they?" she asked me quietly. "You couldn't even leave one."

"I left Sasuke." I reminded her.

"Itachi, will you get over yourself!?" she exclaimed. "It's clear the only reason you're leaving him alive is because you could never leave that on your conscious, you selfish bastard!"

_No, you're wrong..._

"That's right, huh? Kill everyone's family except your own? What gives you the right to decide the value of someone else's life?!"

"I didn't choose him for that reason." I told her. "I chose him because he's the only one I'm certain is completely ignorant."

"Everything you say is a lie!" she retorted.

_...You're right._

"We were supposed to avenge Shi-san together! Have you completely forgotten about that?"

"Of course not!" I said. "But this plan is my way of avenging him."

She stared at me blankly, waiting for me to continue.

_Shi told me to protect the village _and_ the Uchiha name...and I'm doing that._

"By allowing me to leave Sasuke alive, they're making a fatal mistake." I explained.

"...What?"

"I'm not a fool. I know that, at the end of the day, this all may just be a ploy to destroy the Uchiha clan once and for all. I'm not about to let that happen. I'm an Uchiha until the day I die." I told her. "And Sasuke is, too. He's the most promising child in this district. He's strong. And I know for a fact that if he remains alive, he'll revive the clan again."

I walked toward her.

"But instead of the clan being filled with pain and hatred and distrust, it'll be loyal to Konoha because _Sasuke_ will be loyal to Konoha. That way, it will completely extinguish the war between the clans." I told her. "That's my plan in the long run. And it can succeed if you stay alive and protect him for me."

I grasped her hand.

"Please." I said. "I'm entrusting the future to him because I _know_ he'll bring us back. I _know_ it. You just have to trust me."

She looked at me with wide eyes. Those same eyes that questioned me on the night of the riot when she was deciding between joining and staying with me. She sighed.

"Fine." She said. "I trust you."

Relief spread through my body.

"But I'm not staying here without my clan." She said. "...You're going to have to kill me, too."

Suddenly, she pulled two paper bombs out and threw them at me. I only had to move my neck swiftly to the left to dodge them. She pulled the sword she normally used for missions out of its holster and swung it at me. I knew I had to be cautious, even though, she was mediocre and Ninjutsu, Genjutsu and Taijutsu, she was one of the best Kenjutsu users I knew. I took my own blood drenched sword out and countered hers. Her arm strength was surprising, she was able to match mine evenly and also without looking into my eyes. Though, there were other ways I could cast a Genjutsu, I found I didn't want to win the fight using it. She dropped to her feet, kicking my ankles, trying to bring me to the ground. I jumped up, dodging her round kick and brought my sword down onto her head. She dodged it, by the skin of her teeth. A couple of strands of hair fell to the ground, having being shaved off by my sword.

"I don't want to hurt you." I told her. "Listen to me. You can get out of here."

"Why?! Because I'm not a full Uchiha?!" she exclaimed.

She threw her sword at me which I dodged by dropping to my hands and feet on the ground.

"That's an insult to me, you bastard!" she roared.

With my Sharingan activated, not much got past me. I could see the chakra gathering in her eyes and initially I didn't believe it. But there was nothing mistaking the swirl of red and black. She darted toward me, suddenly, significantly faster than ever before. She threw a line of shuriken at me which I dodged with ease. I looked up to see her sign weaving at dramatically fast proportions.

_This is incredible... She just activated the Sharingan._

She took a deep breath, gathering the necessary chakra in her lungs.

_But this is also dangerous... She's half Senju... There's no telling how far she could go._

A fire ball justu expanded in the air and escalated toward me.

_I'm going to have to finish this quickly..._

The fire whooshed over my body, singeing my hair and clothes and ultimately burning me to a crisp. She stood there, eyes wide and unbelieving. She took a step forward, and that uncertainty was all I needed. The real me grabbed her from behind, quickly pushing my sword through her back. For a second, it seemed like all the sound in the world stopped. Then her body lurched and she coughed up blood. We both fell to our knees. She collapsed back into my arms. I removed the sword from her back allowing the blood to continue to pour out.

_This is sick... I have to put her out of her misery._

I raised my sword again, this time planning to go straight through the heart but she gripped my wrist. I looked down into her eyes which were shining up at me, large and red instead of their usual charcoal gray color. She had two black tomoe in one eye and three in the other. I wouldn't have even believed it to even be possible to reach three tomoe on the first time until that day. Tears collected in her eyes as she reached up toward me.

"I..." she struggled to speak.

_I know. You hate me. You despise me. You want to kill me._

I closed my eyes excepting to feel her hand close around my throat. I didn't want to move. I didn't think I deserved it. Half of me wanted her to hurt me. And the other half of me wished I could die with her. But...

I felt her finger tips graze my face. I opened my eyes slowly, watching her silently stroke my cheek like she often did.

"I'll love you forever..."

The tears in her eyes ran through the blood splattered onto her cheeks and soaked into the ground. I watched her Sharingan fade. Her eyes went back to gray. But instead of being soft and tender or open and honest or even...hard and cold... They were nothing. There was nothing. Miki-chan was gone. The warmness of her body faded quickly. Her scent of honey and roses was stained with the putrid stench of rotting blood. There was no smile to gaze at, no laughter to listen to, no one to lean on. I had destroyed all of that...with my own hands.

"It's good that you chose to finish her off." A voice said.

_Madara._

"There's no telling what kind of future complications that could cause..." he said quietly. "A woman who is a _natural _heir to the Sage of the Six Paths."

I eased her eye lids closed and slowly got to my feet.

_Natural heir? Meaning... There could be an unnatural half-Senju, half-Uchiha heir?_

"The boy is nearing." He informed me.

I swallowed, trying to pull myself together, trying to force any and every emotion down.

"You're still on board, aren't you?"

I gazed down at her lifeless body, struggling to stop to tremors in my fingertips.

_No._

"Yes." I told him.

*Epilogue*

There's nothing quite like regret. It's a constant source of agony in your life. A disease that eats at you. A flaw that can never be erased. It's like a poison that infiltrates your lungs, your brain...your heart...

_Crying... Crying... Crying... _

I awoke with a start, rubbing my eyes and stumbling to the mirror in the dark room. I stared at my face. A pair of blood red eyes with three black tomoe stared back at me.

_Stop crying. Stop it. I don't want to hear it anymore._

Ever since that day, I couldn't deactivate my Sharingan. It stayed on, even as I slept. Deep inside, I believed it was a psychiatric measure I was using to protect myself. I was too frightened to turn it off, thinking the moment I did the demons constantly swirling around in my head would close in and attack. My hands were shaking. I was at the end of the line again. At that moment where, staring myself in the face, I hated the man looking back at me...and I wanted that man to die.

_Stop it! Stop crying! Please... Please..._

But the man I was looking at was blurry anyway. Everything was beginning to become blurry. How fitting was it for a man who constantly depends on his eyes to become blind.

"Can't sleep again, Itachi?"

I didn't jump or turn. He often wafted into my living quarters that way. Bleeding in through solid walls.

"I can also sense that your eyes are getting worse."

Without another word, he set a bottle on the table. He shook it momentarily, showing me that it was full.

"This will help you sleep." He said. "And it'll also keep your eyes steady at the level of blindness they're at now."

I grabbed the bottle wordlessly, already pouring the contents into my hand.

_I have to sleep. I haven't slept a full night in so long... Anything... Anything to stop the crying._

"Wait." He said, grabbing for my hand.

I quickly moved out of his reach.

"There's a catch." He said.

"Of course there is." I replied. "I don't care to hear of it."

I already knew that man, whoever he was, most likely wasn't Madara. There were a couple things off about him. He was conniving and I distrusted him more than anyone else around me.

"You're that desperate?"

In response, I cocked my head back and tossed two of the pills into my mouth, swallowing them whole.

"Is that night really haunting you so deeply?" he asked.

I closed my eyes and gripped the table.

"Leave me." I ordered.

He shrugged, backing away.

"I just hope those pills keep you in one piece until you meet Sasuke." He said. "Those side effects...are dire."

I staggered back to my bed and fell into the sheets, immediately covering my ears. With relief, I realized it was quieting down. The cries were going away. The same cries I heard every night. The cries of the children whose blood spilt on my hands... And the elderly and the teens and the adults... People my age. Boys who I had graduated from the academy with. Girls who I brought flowers when they were sick. Adults who I'd helped clean their gardens or move furniture. All silently screaming at me in those scarred faces of hurt and betrayal. Gone. Gone forever. All because of me.

I held good on my promise, even though the side effects from the medication were taking its toll on me. I took it as a necessary price for all the evil I had spread. My personal price to pay. I took it in stride. In front of all the Akatsuki, I was well put together. No one could ever have imagined that I spent a good amount of the day throwing up blood and most of my nights downing pills just to sleep for an hour or two. And Madara lied, my vision continued to get worse, though he claimed he didn't know why. It didn't matter to me. All that mattered was my final mission.

I fought him, going as hard as I possibly could which was barely hard at all. It took half of my life force just to get out of bed that morning. I fed Sasuke the fool's story I'd been prepping for years. Contrived an entire fantasy for him to believe, specifically to protect him from the truth. I knew that if he ever discovered how serious the situation between the clans really was, he would be side-tracked and easily manipulated by predators like Madara.

I stood in front of him, literally feeling my soul being lifted from my body. I could barely see. He was nothing more than a blur in front of me but I reached for him, the same way I did when we were younger.

_Shisui entrusted everything to me and now I entrust everything to you Sasuke. I know you'll make the right decision, whatever that decision is. _

I poked his forehead to which I imagined he responded with shock.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke. This is it."

I felt a cool breeze picking the strands of hair off my forehead. I blinked once...twice...

_So bright._

There was an earthy smell... I turned to see bright yellow flowers surrounding me. Dandelions. I sat up. Somehow, I felt like I'd been sleeping for a long time.

"Finally!" a voice said.

I looked up, blinking at the head which moved in front of the sun, blocking it from my eyes. The person squatted down next to me, curly black hair shimmering in the sun rays, grinning at me gleefully.

"Took you long enough, 'Tachi."

He grabbed my hand, pulling me to my feet. I glanced to my left to see another body lying in the dandelion field next to me. A black haired boy who looked unnervingly comparable to my younger brother.

"Don't worry about him." He told me. "He won't be waking up for a _long_ time."

He pulled me along and I walked, noticing little things... There were children running around. Playing, laughing, smiling. He walked with his hands behind his head. We both wore white, our shirts were long, covering our arms, and our pants were loose, not having much shape. Or perhaps, there were no clothes... The sun was so bright, it was impossible to tell. The kids ran around us again.

"Jin-kun! Come on, I'm here!" a little girl yelled.

"I'm coming!"

I blinked, looking at the children and wanting to say something but not being able to find the words. The children seemed to understand my speech, my longing, even without words. They turned and waved at me kindly and then went back to their play. Shisui nudged me and pointed.

"You see?" he said. "They've all been waiting for you for a while."

My chest expanded. They all stood there. All of them. We both walked toward the crowd. No one spoke. Each one of them reached toward me, touching a little part of me; my hand, my shoulder, my head and then letting go and smiling. I looked to my left where my father stood and nodded at me. And then to my right, where my mother stood coming up to give me a kiss on the forehead. Then the crowd split, they all allowed me to walk through. I continued walking until there was one person left, standing with their back to me.

I stood waiting, waiting, waiting...

Slowly, she turned around. And that scent came back, fresh and immediate. She held a single rose in her hand.

"Ita-kun..." she whispered, reaching out to stroke my cheek. "Welcome home."


End file.
